World Ablaze
by Nikolai Petirosky
Summary: You want to hear another tale, eh? Well, how about a tale that involves the world nearly being turned to ash, and our brave hero needing to claim an artifact of immense power? The next tale in a line of stories to come, but you don't need to read the previous to get this one. And before someone asks, the romantic bits come later. This is a story, not porn.
1. Chapter 1

An: Welcome, welcome, one and all! Time for a new tale, one that will be very mathamatical.

Now, firstly, how much do i enjoy being told "I don't normally like oc driven stories BUT" it makes me quite happy with myself. I believe the issue is people try to make that character them, and not their own person. Nikolai is nothing like me, but doesn't stop me from making him stupid fun to read. Although, we both hate pants...but that's besides the point.

Now, if you haven't read "Beast of Burden", go on and do that IF YOU WANT. You won't be lost beyond belief without it, but some parts won't make sense.

This has gone through many different plans, so lets see how it turns out...

But, because i am me...Let us begin.

Chapter 1: I Don't Wanna Set the World On Fire...

Finn the Human was a very...interesting creature. He was a artifact of a previous era, and he stood alone; not a human had been seen for era's, and probably will never be seen again. However, this never seemed to bother the plucky lad, who would have been called "The most energetic hero to ever walk Ooo". His life seemed to be prefect, he had many friends, a girlfriend who just happened to be a princess (even if she was made of fire) and enough money from all of his adventuring that he didn't even realize he was more wealthy then any other person in the lands.

During this sunny day, he laid asleep on the canopy of the tree, basking in the sun and thinking of things that all teenagers think about. Rolling to his side, he mumbled something along the lines of 'that feels good, FP' and exhaled. Truly, this was a rare thing for the hero; a lazy day.

That wouldn't last, obviously.

He awoke startled, hearing the crash of sound that shook Ooo to the core. Looking up to the blue sky, he saw the ugly red blob in it, looking as if the very air had been wounded in some sort of battle. Looking up at it, trying to focus on the paranormal shape in the sky, he saw something falling towards him.

Something that seemed to be moving very quickly.

With a large crash, he looked down the canopy at the crash site, nearly taking out the tree house. He saw some sort of...blue thing, glowing like a ethereal egg. Climbing down, he wished that Jake hadn't left for the weekend, saying something about a trip with Lady Rainicorn. Stepping onto the lush grass, he edged towards the small crater it had left. Looking down, it seemed to be magical in some way, and wondered what it would hatch into.

This, however, was dispelled when the 'egg' dissolved, revealing a very grumpy looking man. Said man was quite bulky, a shaggy beard covering part of his face. His hair was no better, reaching to his shoulders and looking like some sort of brown and mauled creature sitting on his head. His eye's were a light orange, which confused Finn a great deal. The man wore the same outfit any blacksmith worth his metal would wear. A thick black shirt and pants, and a even thicker white apron. However, the arms were bare, revealing the surprising feature of the man. Both arms were covered in strange glyph like symbols, apparently carved into his skin. They seemed to be colored black, almost resembling tattoo's if not for the indents. His hands were no different, symbols on each palm, finger and knuckle.

Coughing, the man stood up and looked at the small boy, a mix of anger and confusion in the strangly colored eyes. He yelled at him, but the language Finn didn't understand. "Um...mister scary smith guy, i don't know what your saying." he spoke slowly, attempting to talk to the strange space egg man.

Growling, he gripped the boys arm, causing him to attempt to pull away in fright of the action. The man held him still, and pulled a strange object from his pocket; a stick. The stick was no longer then a pencil, sharpened to a fine point. Adoring the flat end was a runic symbol that made Finn shutter just looking at it, glowing a light blue.

Before Finn could react, he brought it down and began to scratch a glyph into his skin, making him wince. Pulling away, he cried out. "What the glob, man!?"

"It's a rune of language, you dumb little kid." He growled out, slipping the stick into his pocket.

Frowning, he looked at the man, now understanding the foreign language. "What? How did you...that's mathmatical!" he cried, believing himself to be the owner of some form of super power.

"Not Really. My runes cover most of Uuu." he said, looking about. "Where the hell am i?"

"In Ooo?"

"You mean Uuu."

"No, Ooo. The one that looks like a donut. I never heard of Uuu before." the hero spoke, frowning.

Looking about, something clicked apparently clicked in the large and gruff man's mind. "Ah, i see. Some sort of parallel Dimension. No wonder the smell of magic is so weak." He said, scratching his beard.

"What are you talking about? Did you hit your head on the fall?" he asked, perplexed by the smithy.

"Oh nevermind boy. Just don't go getting any-"

THUMP!

Looking down, he saw the strange boy had passed out, his little bear ear hat now slightly off place. Lowering down to his knee's, he shook him roughly. He wasn't gonna be blamed for a kid's murder, and picked him up and carried him inside the tree house.

Finn felt weightless. Hard to describe, he decided, but floaty isn't a word. Everything was warm, feeling like the sun he had been taking in a few minutes ago. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into some form of jewel, large and red. It was shaped like a star, and seemed to be inside some sort of gold amulet. Something about it felt...nice. It made him feel like he was safe, and warm. It almost seemed to speak to him, but not. The amulet was calling to him, he realized, asking for his assistance. He was about to query further, or the closest thing to that, when he felt himself drift out of the dream, leaving him feeling cold and wet.

Coughing, he spit out the cold water that he found in his mouth, staring at the smithy holding a bucket. "Good, your not dead." he said simply.

"What the glob! I was having such a nice dream, and it was so warm and..."he drifted off, unable to explain the euphoric feeling.

Frowning, the smithy helped him up. "Did you see a pendent? With a star shaped gem?"

"Yeah! How did you know? Was i talking in my sleep?" he said, embarrassed that he was doing that still.

"No, but i feel like i have something to explain to you, little boy. You seem to be the purest Hero in the lands, and The Regalia has chosen you. Better sit down, and I'll explain."


	2. Chapter 2

An: Ah, welcome welcome, one and all, come on in, lets have a ball!

For once i have little to say here...so butts.

...

Now, onto the story!

Chapter 2: Destruction and Creation

Sitting down on the old sofa, he exhaled, deciding this was going to be a long ass explanation. "You see, in my land, Uuu-"

"You mean Ooo."

"Say that again and i'll throw you out a window." he growled.

"But your saying it wrong! It's Ooo. The doughnut shaped letters." he said, trying to explain why he thought the large smithy was wrong.

"No, you fool. Uuu. Like the...Horseshoes." he tried to reason on Finn's level, mentally wondering how this was who the pendent picked.

"Oh...i see now."

"Anyway...In Uuu, we are all mages, wizards, that sort of thing. The great Hero saw to that, giving us the spark of power once more." he said, waiting for the questions.

"Spark of power? Great Hero?" he said, almost salivating at the word hero. He loved tales of Heroes, and this ' Great Hero' sounded pretty mathmatical.

Shaking his head, he tried to answer. "The spark of power is what allows someone to draw energy from themselves, and use it cast magic. Mana, Chi, Chakra...the names for it are limitless. You see, Humanity forgot these abilities, various people of power damning practitioners, and eventually we all forgot. But, the Great Hero Found himself in the possession of one of the four greatest Artifacts in all of the dimensions themselves; a piece of the Regalia, The Pendent of Fire. Your universe probably has something like this, some sort of magical jewellry-"

"You mean the Ice King's crown?" he spoke up, almost forgetting that he could speak, so intent on hearing the story.

"Hm? You have a bearer of a Regalia? Tell me all, young one."

Finn began rapidly speaking, telling him of everything that he and his brother had found out about the mad monarch.

Scratching his beard, he frowned. "Poor fellow. He might be useful, i suppose. But we will get to that in a minute."

"Now, the hero was one of pure heart, and as such, could wield it without it corrupting him, like the crown did to that fellow Simon."

"Wait, why do these Regilia-"

"Regalia."

"Regalia corrupt? Are they evil?"

Laughing, he shook his head. "Far from it, me boy. The regalia created the very universe! From what we have gathered, the Regalia were created by something or someone. Or multiple of those, actually...And used to create life itself. However, their power was so great that they created four dimensions. The other two are dead, apparently. And as time has aged, more dimensions have been created that exist between the four."

"Math! But...why do they corrupt?" he asked again, watching the smithy seem to realize he went off topic.

"Oopsie...guess i'm going a tad insane, eh? The Regalia do not corrupt on purpose. Each one holds diminion over the four aspects of life: Body, Soul, Heart, Mind. The crown affects the mind. Whoever simon was, he was a very great mind to have not been destroyed by it's power. Now, back to the point..."

"The Hero was able to wield it without problems arising, and it gave him many things; Mastery of Fire and all magic, immortality, a great beard...And as a hero, he stopped what i believe your universe calls "The great mushroom war". Because we averted it, Humanity was saved. Eventually, all nations and goverments were replaced by a single power; The great hero. He did not choose this, but his followers who quickly formed did. Eventually, he taught all of life one of the three great magics: White."

"White? Whatcha mean, old man?"

Glaring at the old comment, he continued. "There are three great magics. White, which governs protection, healing, Knowledge and Life. Black Governs Death, control, Destruction and Power. And the final is Grey: It is neither Life nor death, good nor bad. It simply is pure power. None can wield it, at least none to date. When you practice White magic, it changes you. Stress becomes less noticeable, hatred diminishes, and love flourishes. As such, our society was perfect. Until the event occured."

He wanted to ask, but found himself not wanting to ruin his story. Again.

"The event, was the mistake and folly of man. Some explorers uncovered some very tainted artifacts, which-"

"What are artifacts?" he spoke, suddenly cursing himself (the curses being 'butt') for speaking up.

"Artifacts are things of power, me boy. The wielder can tap into it and use it, even if not magically inclined. Unlike us, which draw on our own power, they draw on the power of the very dimension, which is limitless in itself."

"Now, the artifacts were of black magic. Very black, the kind of black when you look in the dark and can't see anything. One of them attempted to use it, and ended up unleashing a plague of undead. The black magic began to spread, many allowing it's tainted coils to wrap around them. Eventually, War occured. The white mages, with the power of the Hero, drove them to another land mass, and sealed them all there. Not all of them were imprisoned, and as such, Necromancers and the like still show up once in a while."

"However, about 150 years ago, or so i have been told, the Hero departed. No sign, no trace of him. Luckily, the goverment in which he had created was easily kept under control, but the people mounred his loss for months."

"It seems, however, that his Pendent had been laid to rest, and that the reason why i am here is just that. Some foul Necromancer had stumbled across it, and the bumbling idiot attempted to take it's power. Unluckily for me, me and my wife were in the blast radius of what happens when a moron attempts to screw with powers greater then him. But, some strange man had- Nevermind that bit. Long story short, boy, We need to get you to that amulet before whatever is left of that moronic Necormancer gets it. It wishes you to be the Great Hero."

Far, Far away, in the midst of the crater left from the Mushroom war, the entirety of the mutagenic filled hole lay burning, a creature of power near limitless lay, patiently waiting for his power to grow, before going to claim back what he had found; the Regalia.


	3. Chapter 3

An: Welcome back!

Luckily, my computer was fixed after a quick formatting. So...lost all my story chapters. Luckily they are still on fanfiction, or I'd be a little pissed.

Nikolai returns this chapter, but he won't be a key story character. At least, probably not.

Sorry to release it so late, i was feeling uninspired after a game of space station 13 (free game, kind of amazing) ended with me getting gutted by a cat man.

Since i don't have much to say, lets start this, yah?

Chapter 3: The Game Begins

Staring down at a chessboard, a man that some may recall seeing previously, sits at his favourite chair, watching the pieces intently. Each piece was not of the traditional standard, instead looking to be people who had importance in the upcoming battle. The king and queen of the white pieces were the energetic Finn and the fiery princess that he adored so. Standing on each side were the bishops to protect the king and queen, they stood, Jake and Ice King. The knights which would play the role of offensive, stood the Wolf and the Enchanter. The castles were the ones that would protect, and they were the ever odd couple, Marceline and Bubblegum. The pawns had little value, various people who would lose their life to protect the King. Of course, they didn't realize it.

The other line, the black pieces, stood nothing but monsters, made of dead flesh and burning bone. The king and queen were the only two of note, The Lich and the Necromancer, stood protected by the horde of decaying flesh and rotting bone. The two kings stood as the goals; The Necromancer and Finn. If either fell, the game would collapse, and the losers would not see the next day. But, who would win? Scratching his grey beard, he watched the pieces begin to move, curious to the outcome of the battle.

* * *

Panting heavily, Nikolai charged across the grasslands, heading towards the thing that he saw fall from the sky. He had become worried, fearing it to have been some form of evil bird that was laying magic eggs. He kicked up more speed, intent on closing the gap between him and the crash sight as quickly as his legs could carry him.

The Enchanter stood up, yawning slightly. "So, we need to find where the Talisman landed, little hero." he spoke gruffly, mind not entirely with him.

"Little Hero? My name is Finn." Finn spoke up, confused at the nickname.

"What? Fin? Like from a fish? That's a stupid title." he spoke, looking at the boy confused.

"No, it's my name, not a title."

"Name? The hell is a...oooooh! I heard of those. We don't have those where i'm from, little hero. Your called by a title, thus why i am called 'The Rune Smithy'. We haven't used something as stupid as names for hundreds of years!" he laughed out, finding this whole 'name' thing jovial.

"Well i don't like being called little! It's not very nice." he said, a small pout forming on the boy's lips.

"What? You are little. Tiny, in fact. Would you rather be Tiny Hero? Miniscule Hero? Pea-sized Hero?" he said, listing as many synonyms as he could think of, watching the boy become more and more flustered.

"Glob darn it, my name is Finn! F-i-n!" he cried, exhausted from the strange man's antics. "Besides, what should i call you, then? Rune? Smithy? Harry?" he said, giggling at the last one, much to the annoyance of the smithy.

"Very funny, boy. Remind me to put a rune of silence on you later." he grumbled, staring out the window.

"What are these rune things anyway? Never seem em before." he questioned, eyeing the rune carved on his palm.

"Runes? Aye, you wouldn't have. It's a gift i have. I can give power to anything or anyone, by using those runes. No one else can, it seems, as people have tried and failed." he explained, showing his carved up arms.

"Whats this one mean?" he pointed to one at random, reminding him of a fish in a trumpet.

"Hm? Water breathing."

"How about this one? This one? That one? Oh, and this one!?" he cried, pointing at more of them at random.

Growling, he listed them back. "Fire breathing, Iron Hide, Barrier and Flight."

He attempted to point to more, but found his hand pushed away. "I'm not a sodding art display!" he cried, deciding this boy was about as smart as a bowl of soup. Looking out a nearby window, he spotted something moving alone the plains, large and furry. It had a very large set of claws and fangs, from what he could see, and frowned. "Stay here, Little Hero."

Before he could yell about being called little, the man disappeared in a blink of orange light.

* * *

Nikolai sniffed, smelling someone new at the treehouse, his run slowing down. Finn must have befriended another random vagabond, he decided, and began to walk, not seeing the crater or any signs of trouble. However, when a strange man wearing a smithy's wardrobe, covered in strange runes appeared in a flash of orange light, he snarled. This wouldn't end well, he could already tell.

He watched the man carefully, and saw something glow on his arm. Suddenly, the man was right in front of him, driving his fist towards his face.

* * *

He brought his fist towards the creature, meaning to end it with a rune assisted blow, deeming it to be some sort of weakling black magic creature. However, this became obviously not the case, as it dodged his fist and dove under it, driving it's furry claw into his stomach. Exhaling roughly, he allowed his mana to flow into a rune on his back, it glowing a light pink, and the wound knit itself together.

* * *

He growled, the smithy's stomach healing itself. He backed up, deciding that he should watch before continuing the attack. However, he quickly deemed that folly, rolling to the side to avoid a flaming fist aimed for his muzzle. Growling, he kept dodging the fiery blows, waiting for his chance to strike back. Watching him attempt a sloppy uppercut, Nikolai grinned.

* * *

He knew it was a bad idea to attempt the uppercut when he saw it's face pull into a sinister snarl, gripping his arm roughly. It pulled, and he found himself flying up into the air, much higher then he expected to go. Coming back to the earth, he pulled the power from the Iron Hide rune, feeling his skin toughen and become hard like...well iron.

* * *

Driving his fist into the falling man, he howled in pain as he struck, feeling like he had punched a brick wall covered in concrete. The man laughed, and attempted to grab him with those dangerous hands, causing Nikolai to back up and nurse his hand. Stupid smithy! He will pay for that...

* * *

He felt a gasp escape his throat, watching the creature grow in size, from being about half a foot taller then the smithy to more then 4 or 5 feet taller. It snarled, and charged, and the man found himself drawing on Barrier out of fear. The blue egg-like protection arose, leaving him blind, but hearing a massive thud against the magical forcefield.

* * *

He snarled, the annoying man had hid himself! He drove his fists into it over and over, hearing it crack under the pressure. Just as he broke through, he was blinded by a powerful light, making him wince. Attempting to make out the blurry shapes, he dove at it, finding himself grabbing at nothing.

* * *

Finn, meanwhile had saw what was occurring and began to run as fast as his legs would carry him, eventually reaching the point of the battle to see Nikolai attempting to break the man's neck, while the man had drove some sort of magical sword that emanated from his left arm into Nikolai's shoulder. He shouted frantically, attempting to stop the fight. "Rune! That's not a bad guy! That's Nikolai! Nikolai! Stop choking him!" he cried, watching both men glare at each other, the hate in their eyes very obvious.. Eventually, Nikolai loosened his grip, and allowed the man to fall to the ground. Shrinking down, he gave out a huff. "Stupid smithy here attacked me. He's lucky i didn't just tear his throat out!" he barked out, still ready to fight.

"Whats with the dog boy? He your pet or something?" he asked, eyeing the dog man.

"This 'dog boy' is older then you. And speaks German." he growled, snapping at him.

"Wait, you speak my language? And can speak!?" he cried, baffled at the situation.

"I can also speak English, French and Russian, little man." he said, stroking his shoulder in pain, wishing he could bite the man a few times.

"Ya Call it German here? We call it Basic." he said, rubbing his sore neck.

He deemed the conversation pointless and turned to the boy. "This thing that fell from sky? If so, I need to go. My pack says they found signs of undead moving towards Candy Kingdom. You should go, make sure the pink one is safe." he said, turning on a dime and charging off, not even waiting to say goodbye. He had things to do, and little time to wait.

"Wait, what?!" he cried, what he said sinking in. Checking his sword was still hanging from his bag, he ran off, headed full speed towards the Kingdom, the Smithy in tow, unsure what "Candy Kingdom" was and why he should even care.


	4. Chapter 4

An: Back again, lets get this started!

Glad to see that people are still enjoying my stories. Really, really am.

Not much to say, but if you ever play space station 13, i go by Nikolai the beast and Nikolai Petirosky on apollo station 17. feel free to play, it is...well free.

Now, onto the tale.

Chapter 4: The Battle of Bone and Sweets.

Finn had found himself at the walls to the candy kingdom in a very short period of time, huffing like a wolf in a nursery rhyme. He approached the gates, the graham crackers that served as it closed, barred with a piece of candy cane. Frowning, he knocked on it, getting a meek response from what sounded like a banana guard. "No one here...don't eat our faces..."

"It's me, Finn! Lemme in!" he cried, hearing a scurrying from behind the delicious door. The gate opened with startling speed, revealing the banana guard and a few other of his kin rapidly tugging on the door's ropes, not even using the lever to do it for them. "Finn! Thank glob, get in here!" the one in charge cried, the only difference between him and the other was a poofy purple hat. Rushing in, the enchanter followed, staring at the candy guards.

* * *

What magic is this? He thought quizzically, eyeing the nervous guardsmen. However, he found more surprise at the sight of the citizens that were hiding inside their candy homes, peeking out through the windows. Either this place was made of candy, or he had drank a large amount of wizard brew. Shaking his head, he watched the boy speak to some sort of bubblegum girl, wearing a crown the reeked of protection magic.

"Finn! My goodness, am i glad to see you! The Lich is striking again, he has sent a horde of undead this way. We need all the help we can get to deal with them! I tried to send word to Jake and Rainacorn, but it won't make it in time. We sent convoy's to the other kingdoms, but we need to buy time!" she spoke frantically, her usual air's gone, replaced by a mild panic.

"Calm down, sweets. I'll make sure no one gets you." Teased a voice, eliciting a blush and glare into the shadowed area underneath the wall. Finn realized that Marceline was floating there, holding her usual axe bass. However, he didn't need to be a genius to see she was stressed, her grip way tighter then it should be on the weaponized instrument. She saw Marceline looking at the enchanter, frowning. "Whose the big smithy? He looks awfully human..."

Giving a stark glare into the darkness, the enchanter spoke up. "I am, undead. And lest you wish to taste the power of The Rune Smithy, i wouldn't attempt to bite me." he spoke, recently carving a Translation rune on himself, not wishing to do it to everyone else just so he didn't have to feel the magic change his speech.

She hissed at him, and approached as close as she could without touching the sunlight. "You wanna go, ya oversized hobo!?"

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes briefly flashing purple. 'Who is this guy? Is he a danger to Bonni? I hope i can keep her safe. I hope Nikolai makes it in time. Why is he looking at me like that. I hope he doesn't start something'

His glare softened, and he shook his head. "Forgive me, Undead. I thought you to be some sort of monster, but none would worry so much for another." He shook her hand, watching her reaction with mild amusement.

"What? How...you read my mind, you butt! Don't do that, that's just...disturbing!" she huffed loudly, pouting like a child. This got a giggle from the princess, making her pout even more. The enchanter laughed, and looked at her curiously. "Kin of the night, eh? Won't be much help to the battle, then. If you lend me your arm, I'll give you a gift." he spoke, watching her pout disappear.

"Gift? What do you mean, wierdo?" She said, approaching him from the darkness.

"A rune, one of great magic. It would give you a temporary relief from the dangers of the sun, but only for a brief time. It would only work around once a day, and would draw on your inner power. Do you accept, Night-kin?" he stepped into the shadows, pulling the stick from his pocket.

Frowning, she gave him her arm, and winced as it carved into it. She watched it, and saw that he had finished the rune in but a moment. It was a eye within a circle, and it turned a red color reminding her of a tattoo. "Just focus on it, Night-kin, and it shall reward you with protection."

Focusing on it hard, she watched it turn a light blue, her skin felling funny for a moment. She looked around, and he pushed her, directly out of the shadows, into the princesses chest. Two things occurred to her at that moment; one, the sun felt very nice after a thousand years, and two, she quite enjoyed the view. Feeling herself pulled away by Bonni, she pouted a little. The sun was good, at least.

* * *

The enchanter laughed at the look he got from the candy girl, and turned to examine the wall. "This doesn't look very sturdy. It seems to be made out of...Gingerbread?" he tapped it, and frowned. He began carving into the wall, the rune much larger then the ones that lay on his arms, and began glowing a magenta hue. Smiling, he laughed a little at the surprise the undead would get when they touched the wall. He turned back, to see everyone giving him a queer look. "What?...What?"

Ignoring the looks, he climbed the wall, looking out over the candy plains. He could see the danger, the horde of undead growing ever closer. This would be a fight, he decided.

* * *

Watching the board, he saw the pawns grow ever closer to the opposites side. He began to laugh, when half of the pawns and the Wolf charged, cutting the charge of the undead black pieces.

* * *

Finn climbed the wall, looking out to see the horde of undead, his eyes seeing the shape of humans, marauders, candy men and more. However, what caught his eye was the charging mass of black fur that came from the forest from one end of the forest, the other side came a wave of green. He suddenly recognized the shapes, and began to laugh in delight.

The Goblins and Werewolves had come to party.

* * *

Nikolai and Grubs laughed heartily (and drunkenly), as they fought their way through the undead horde, giggling about making drink cups out of any clean skulls they found.

"Grubs, ya think we can make some musical instruments from the bones?"pulling the arm off of a undead man, wearing a thousand year old soldiers outfit.

"Hm, you want to tickle the ivories?" he laughed, slicing his way through a undead cougar that had been stupid enough to deem the goblin a easy meal.

"More like rattle their bones!"

They guffawed, their armies joining in with the laughter, deeming this to be more like a bar brawl then a full scale war against a horde of undead. Of course, they both had advantages over the horde. Both battalions of goblin and lycan were much faster and agile then any undead, and had advantages in size. The lycan to large to go down by a single blow, the Goblins to small to hit when they moved so much, which may be because the horde of green creatures had been drinking since they left the kingdom.

After making a joke about making a hat out of a rotting bear, he turned to the goblin with a small amount of seriousness. "We gotta go tell em what we know, or this might be sort of pointless."

"It would be, it would be. But, who should go, eh? I'm having a frog of a time, i am i am!" he cried, laying on the cockney accent for giggles.

"I'm faster then you, stubby. I'll be back, make sure to save a few skulls for me to crack! He cried, running off through the horde.

"Can't promise ya nothing, my furry friend!"

* * *

The Group on the walls watched the skirmish with shock, the undead apparently not expecting a charge of drunken goblins and even more drunken lycans. They saw one charging towards the wall,and Marceline began to laugh loudly. "Nikky boy really pulled one through, eh? Candy kingdom isn't exactly known for it's army..." she said, wrapping a arm around Bonnibelle.

Nikolai climbed the wall, and sat down, a tad tired from the run. "I got you some news, Finn. Turns out, that thing you call the Lich is working with some sort of flaming monster. My scouts found em ging towards the fire kingdom, surrounded by strange flaming undead. They sent these to keep you busy, so that you wouldn't be a threat. Head off, go through the Ice kingdom. Me and Grubs will hold em off, make sure that these candy folk don't get eaten."

Nodding, Finn and the enchanter ran off, taking no time to say goodbye. Time was of the essence. Frowning, Princess Bubblegum looked to her follow monarch (and bed partner) and kissed her cheek. "Go help them, Marci. I'd feel better if you were watching their backs."

Marceline blushed a little at the affection, and nodded, flying off with a derpy smile on her face.

Nikolai laughed, and turned to look at the princess. "Oh, Grubs says hello, and is wondering if he is forgiven for attempting to 'take a bite out of your butler' after this."

"...If he promises to not call me a babe again, he will be."

Nikolai grins, deciding that he would never stop doing that, and rushes off again, to join in the fray with intentions to make a entire set of platter ware out of the undead for his house.

* * *

The Librarian watched the board, frowning deeply. The Black Bishops Cometh.


	5. Chapter 5

An: Welcome back, readers! How has your day been? Would you like a drink? Because i don't have any. Take two guesses who took all the booze. Go ahead, guess.

Strawberry milk is delicious.

Can you tell i have nothing to say? I usually do, but I'm just focused on pumping out another chapter and drinking strawberry milk.

Since this is dragging on, onto the tale...

Chapter 5: Icy Days

Finn, the Enchanter and Marceline rushed over the plains, quickly reaching the point where grass suddenly stopped and ice began. Frowning, Finn pulled a sweater from his bad, wearing it to protect his not so very cold resistant body. The Enchanter chuckled, a rune near his shoulder blade glowing, before he began to radiate warmth like a giant fleshy heater. Marceline, being undead, simply floated there, waiting for the 'stupid weak mortals' who couldn't handle a little frostbite.

They began trekking across the snow, walking around the massive ice berg mountains. These had always mystified Finn, the cold material see through, revealing things from previous ages, which sometimes (and disturbingly) included corpses. Shuffling along, he sped up after walking by what looked to be the frozen remains of some form of dragon. He listened to the two bickering ahead of them, making him forget the miserable cold for a moment.

"What kind of question is that to ask, perv!?" she said, feeling a tad embarrassed

"Perv? I just wished to know if you undead could breed. After all, you seem to be perfectly preserved, so no actual damage to your innards has occurred..." he found himself dodging an axe, the vampire blushing and attempting to shut up the man for good.

"Calm down, lass! It's not like I'm asking what your favorite position with the princess is-WHOA!" he cried, dodging a even harsher swing, aimed directly at his neck.

He backed up, and hid behind the small boy (didn't work very well). "Fine i'll stop asking, miss won't even give me the answer to a simple question!"

She hissed and floated faster away, aiming not to hear those questions again.

The enchanter began to laugh, ceasing his cowering behind the boy, and waved his arm. "Maybe everything is working, judging by her sudden mood swings..."he stroked his beard, the boy looking at him, wondering if he some sort of death wish.

After a few hours of walking, they found themselves at the Base of the Ice King's castle, the frozen pathway leading towards their feet. However, they had already spotted the Ice King, who was wearing a large penguin suit and following one of the penguins around, imitating the Wenk sound that they made.

"...Ice King, why are you dressed like a penguin?" asked the boy, already annoyed by his presence.

Turning, he jumped in the air, surprised that he had guests. Attempting to pull himself from the suit, he waved weakly. "Oh hi Finn! Hey Marceline! Hey man who screams of magic! Whatcha doing at this stanky old wizards home?" he said, falling to the ground and crawling out of the suit.

"Whats with the suit, man?" Marceline spoke up, watching her once friend dust the snow from his robe.

"Huh? Oh this? I realized that everyone loves penguins, so i thought if i acted more like a penguin, people would like me more!" he cried, the plan apparently sounding like a masterpiece in his mind.

"Wenk!"

"Gunther, we have gone over this, Daddy can't lay egg's."

"Wenk?"

"What do you mean, i am penguiney enough! See? Wenk!"

"Wenk!"

"Oh shut up! Your just upset because you don't have any more bottles to break."

"Wenk..."

Turning back to the group, he laughed meekly and spoke up. "Gunther has been acting very naughty lately, sorry for his foul language."

The enchanter, getting sick of this man, walked up and grabbed the crown, eyeing it curiously. "Hey! That's my magic crown! I made that! " He attempted to take it back, failing horribly.

"You must have been a great mind to survive this long with this crown. Shame it is so attached to you, otherwise i could mess with it, maybe stabilize it's power..." he plopped it back on the mans head, hearing him give a satisfied grunt at the return of his artifact.

"This has been a weird day, i tell you...First Gunther breaks all of my vinegar bottles, then that Pendent thing fell from the sky, so my crown just had to freak out. Nearly killed Gunther in the process..."

"Wenk!"

"Yes, i said i'm sorry! I let you break all of my Soy sauce bottles, remember!?"

"Anyway, the thing must have fell into the fire kingdom, because i woke up in the Steam Lands. Ended up taking a nice hot bath in a hot spring before coming back. Makes your pores feel amazing!" he said, rambling on about steam.

"Wait, do you know where it is exactly, Simon?" Finn spoke up, wanting to keep him on track.

"Simon? Oh me? Don't know why you call me that, i haven't had that name since i was all weak and lame...But yeah, i could find it. The stupid thing is giving me a migraine, anyway. My crown wants me to "Find it and give it to the Hero" so that it will leave us be. I just wanted to try and pick up chicks. Why, you guys going to look for it?"

"...We are. We could use your help Ice King. We need to get that pendent quickly, or we may be in a lot of trouble." Finn spoke up, pleading slightly.

"Well, i don't know...the Fire Kingdom isn't exactly my sort of club..."

"Please, Simon?" Marceline suddenly spoke up, and the Ice king visibly flinched, memories bubbling to the surface for a moment, before disappearing.

"Since you said please, of course, my dear! Just let me get some stuff i need..."He flew off, entering the castle, before returning with a old brown satchel. "There we are, friends, I'm all set."

Poking Finn's arm, he giggled. "Hey finn, what time is it?"

He tried not to let a smile creep onto his face, and failed. "ADVENTURE TIME!"


	6. Chapter 6

An: Hello, Dear readers!

Ah, always love to see that people are still reading Beast Of Burden still, and the "I didn't think i would like this BUT" Always makes me smile.

On another note, i hope to finish this story quicker then Beast of Burden (which i wrote in about 2 weeks, so that's a thing) and move on to my next piece, which i have yet to decide on completely.

Last note, i have been pondering making a version of Beast of Burden that isn't a AT fanfic, and sending it off to magazines and such. Might get some interest, might get some cash. But i don't know if it's worth the effort, honestly.

Now, Dear Readers, onto the story!

Chapter 6: The Black Bishop

As we return to the battlefield, you may have already guessed the outcome; the goblin and lycan forces have decimated the undead, and the few left had fled, leaving a large group of drunk were beasts and and antsy goblins. The only thing that didn't cause both sides to begin fighting each other in a massive brawl was the word of the leaders, each holding enough respect to outweigh their desire to fight. But only barely.

From the walls, Princess Bubblegum and her always sweet Peppermint Butler stood, watching the forces party like they lived in the Cloud Kingdom. While the princess smiled in relief, the butler knew better, and he began to frown, making him look to the Princess in thought. After mentally deciding something, he smiled lightly. "Princess, please go back to the castle. I will go assist the lycan and goblin horde."

"Assist? Assist with what, pep-"

She found her voice cut off by a loud roar, a scream of a creature that hadn't dwelled the land of Ooo in ages; Dragon.

* * *

Dragons had fled Ooo when it become sport to hunt them. Even with their size (some grew as large as mansions, some claim to have seen ones that dwarfed mountains) they would eventually fall to the repeated blows. It was the work of Billy, the great hero, that allowed them to flee to other lands, where they could live in peace.

To this day, no one understands HOW the dragons came about. Some think they mutated from birds, some from lizards, and a few claim that they came from a different dimension. Either way, they held no resemblance to any creatures that walked what was once called Earth.

The one crawling over the horizon was a massive beast; It stood as tall as the Candy Castle, and it's massive feet would have crushed homes. What made it really dangerous, however, was the fact that it was undead. The once beautiful golden scales that would have made this dragon shine like the sun had become rotten, turning a dark black in most places, few scales still holding their original colour. Its ribcage was missing a vast majority of flesh, revealing bone and a hollowed body, full of something that might have been even more dangerous; undead humans, enough of the foul remains to pose a threat to the horde of green and fur. It's massive wings had rotted, leaving nothing but thin bones, and its head was the most terrifying part; the massive dragon was apparently not as easily turned as others, as a strange collar wrapped around its neck, giving signs of pain to the rotted dragon. It's eyes, a bright blue, looked down mournfully, watching the horde that it was about to crush with sadness. It began to open it's massive jaws, and Nikolai knew what was about to occur.

This is the bit where Nikolai does something stupid.

* * *

He felt his flesh cry in pain as he grew, taking sizes that even his body thought he never should. He now stood as tall as the dragon, and every inch of him felt like he had fallen into a vat of needles. Wincing, he gripped the dragon and pushed it's head skyward, a jet of black flame leaving it's lips. It seem surprised by the chain of events, and seemed hopeful. It opened its mouth again, and attempted to speak. "Take...Co-co-" was all it could muster, before it attempted to maul the beast with its hind legs, gripping onto his chest and leaving a wound the size of a small home.

Growling, he brought his claw to it's neck, attempting to rip the collar off. However, it let loose a wave of energy, knocking him back a few feet (well actually, with his size it was about a nearly a mile) and winced. He couldn't rip it off with that sort of magic inside. He needed to think of a-why was there a peppermint candy running up it's side?

* * *

Peppermint butler had quickly reached the battle scene, and had used the mysterious magic that he called his own, and rocketed himself nearly half way up the dragon, gripping onto rotting flesh and climbing. All he needed was enough time to reach that collar, he decided, and hoped that the furry beast would assist.

* * *

Down on the ground, the horde's clashed, each testing each others mettle, as the human corpses fought much quicker then the ones before, howling like demons and not letting decapitation stop them from attack. Grubs had called the forces back into the candy forest, so that they would have advantage in the sweet covered plants, the Lycan taking to the tree's like monkeys, diving onto the undead before leaping back up, and the goblins using the candy floss bushes as cover, the slow minded undead not realizing where the green warriors had fled to until they appeared again, jumping onto their backs and stabbing them in the back of the head. He frowned, however, realizing that this would work for only so long, the undead still pouring from the dragon, creating a endless sea of death.

* * *

Nikolai growled as the dragon bit into his shoulder, and Nikolai drove his claws into it's stomach, only giving the undead another gateway to escape it's belly. Gripping the dragons massive leg, he felt his body scream at him for all of the effort he used, tossing the creature onto it's side, which both stopped the undead flowing from it's stomach for a few moments, and turned the butler's crawl into a run.

* * *

The minty servant used the few moments of being on his feet to cover the distance in a matter of seconds, reaching the massive collar. Sighing, he began to chant in tongue that no mortal could hear without death, and would turn any immortal into one, and his hands begun to glow a color that has no name, it being one that didn't exist on the spectrum most creatures could see. Had anyone seen the color, they would have described it as "the most beautiful and terrifying thing ever" and would most likely faint at remembering it.

Huffing lightly, He drove his palms into the massive collar, the metal creaking and groaning before dissolving under the power behind the blow. The collar quickly disappeared, and many things happened at once.

* * *

Firstly, Grubs watched the undead give out a scream and all fall over, dead (again), leaving the fighting force fairly relieved, not wishing to lose any more on that day. Grubs pulled a small bottle from his pocket and downed it, deciding that he needed to drink 'all the booze from the Candy Kingdom to the Goblin Kingdom and back" after that fiasco.

* * *

Nikolai had watched the dragon give out a massive sigh, and looked towards the now shrinking lycan. "I have been forced into that state for more years then i wish to count. I had been dragged back into my body from my plain of resting, and forced to serve those wretched undead. I thank you, Child of the shadows. I offer you a gift, my friend. Flames will never turn against you, and shall protect you when in times of need." From the dragons snout came a stream of golden power, looking like the golden scales that the dragon must have been so proud of before. It slipped into Nikolai, his eyes glowing gold before returning to their usual shade of green.

The dragon laughed slightly, and closed his eyes slowly, the very movement creating a small wind. "I shall not let this occur again, this body of mine now burst aflame." he spoke, exhaling his last breath. After a moment of silence, his body began to crackle, the rotting flesh burning brightly. For a moment, Nikolai could see what the creature had once been, a massive beast of brightly colored scales and a mind deeper then any ocean. The body burned away, leaving nothing but a single golden scale, easily the size of a shield. Lifting it up, he carried it with him, deciding he needed a drink, and knew that Grubs would be drinking the kingdom dry if he didn't hurry up.

* * *

Peppermint butler watched the beast, before stretching his small arms and walking towards the kindgom, a craving for tea touching his lips.


	7. Chapter 7

An: Back again, i am.

My dear sweet octopus lord, is this story more complicated in the last. I ended up changing a slight thing in the last chapter, what the gift Nikolai got was because the idea was more bonkers then a clown with a chainsaw. I just wanted to be able to saw Nikolai did something besides smash it into a fine mist. Not the way to do it, however. Luckily, Nikolai's part to play is over. I can focus on the other bits, now.

On to another point, can't wait for the reveal of Marceline and simon's past, is gonna be loretastic.

Since i can't actually think of anything to say, lets start.

Chapter 7: Blushing Hero

The Enchanter (or Smithy as everyone had become annoyingly fond of calling him) watched the small group bicker, and found himself wishing to toss them into one of the increasingly hotter then the last springs, hoping it might shut them up for a quarter of a second.

"I...i just don't get it Finn, how could Jake and Rainicorn have children...they aren't even the same species! How would they even-wait, how do you make children again?" The Ice King asked, stroking his massive beard.

"The stork brings them, man. Everyone knows that." Finn replied, having asked the same thing only a few months ago, getting the reply from Jake, who had then fled the house, saying something about Rainicorn and stretching out a window.

"Oh yeah! I remember now...I was brought by stork, i think. I recall freezing a bird that had me in a large blanket, and both of us crashing into the ground, then i made a snow man and rode him home! Or was that a dream...the sun was purple..."

Marceline stood silent, deciding not to reveal anything to the two morons, deciding that she might 'lose' a magazine or two at Finn's house.

"Man, you have messed up dreams."

"The dreams aren't so bad, it's when I'm awake that's terrible."

"Hey, Finn, it occurs, but shouldn't we pick up your little girlfriend? She could help us get around, and you would have an excuse to make kissy faces with her." Marceline said, watching the blushing boy with great amusement.

"..Not a bad idea, i suppose. She lives right down the Steam river, so I'll go get her." he said, rushing down the hissing waterside, trying not to reveal his blush anymore then he had.

Frowning, Smithy(don't call me that, narrator.) looked towards them both, Ice King attempting to make a chair out of ice that melted immediately, causing him to growl like a angry cat and keep attempting, and Marceline who simply drifted about, strumming her axe. "The boy has a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, she's quite the hottie. Literally. She is a flame elemental, so them touching usually leaves him crispy for a bit. Of course, he doesn't even seem to care, much. Of course, if they smooch, she goes boom!" she cried, giggling lightly.

"Boom?" he asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

"Yeah, bonni filled me in. She has a messed up matrix or something. If something too naughty happens, she'll burn up and burn straight into the earths core and destroy everything...or something like that. Just imagine what would happen if he coped a feel, eh?" she giggled, watching the glare from Smithy disappear, his orange eyes seeing straight through her.

"Hm...Perhaps i can assist, then." he said simply, and fumbled around in his pockets. After a moment, he pulled a bracelet from his pocket, made of shining silver, and grabbed his stick from the other pocket, and began to carve something into it. Marceline watched from over his shoulder, as he placed a rune on each link, each one glowing blue. After a few minutes of this, he smiled and placed it next to him, fumbling about for the next piece, a small golden ring. He began carving three symbols into it, a circle with a small fire inside it, a square with a circle then a triangle in it, and then one that looked like a compass of some sorts. Each rune glowed, and he grinned after a moment. "Perfect."

Grabbing the bracelet, she slipped it on curiously. "Whaz this do, Smi-" she suddenly found her rear on the ground, and felt oddly weak. He slipped it off, growling at the vampire. "If you weren't as bright as a plant, you would have asked first. This is what i call a bracket of dampening. It should absorb any power that the girl will give off. Of course, one can only hold so much, that's why i used all the links. After a while the bracelet lets off small amounts of the power inside, allowing it to not overcharge." he told, watching the girl grin sheepishly as she floated back into the air.

Looking over, he saw the Ice King had given up on making a chair out of ice, and had begun building one out of sand instead, but it seemed to be turning into a sand castle, being that he had carved a small arch and windows into the sand. After a while, he seemed to give up on it, and began making a small penguin out of the sand.

Looking down the sandy beach, he saw the boy returning with the girl, small streams of smoke coming from the boys hand, gripping hers as they ran down the beach. She seemed to realize what was happening, the worried look on her face saying it all, but either the boy didn't feel it or didn't care, smiling like he just won the lottery. Soon they reached them, getting a greeting out of Marceline and grunt from the ice king, who was still working on his sand Gunter.

Silently looking at the girl, who squirmed under his gaze, he gripped her arm gently and slipped the bracelet on (Marceline noted that one of the runes on his left arm glowed blue when he touched her) and slipped the ring onto the boys hand. Grinning slightly, he pushed them into each other, lips pressing as they fell.

As Finn landed on the ground, feeling the princess above him, he blushed slightly, wondering why he wasn't being burned alive.

As for Flame princess, she would have turned red and her fire would have grown to smote the surrounding area, but found her body barely at her usual temperature. When she realized that she was kissing the boy, and realized that she was laying on top of the boy, she became a little dizzy. When she felt something pressing into her, she had a brief realization of what that thing was, and everything went black.

After a unknown amount of time, she found herself awake, sitting on Finn's lap, his hands wrapped around her stomach protectively. She kept her eyes closed, pretending she was asleep, mostly to enjoy the feeling. "So as long as we wear these things, we can't hurt each other, smithy?"

"Aye, but i would ask you not to go too crazy, boy. I don't know what you two will end up doing, and how much power she will give off, but i sincerely don't wish to have to make one of those once a week. When we aren't trying to save the sodding world, I'll make a better one. Oh, and the ring has a few more benefits. If she decides to allow it, you can read her mind from a small distance, and if she is in trouble, the ring will point you towards her."

'He can read my mind? Oh my glob, i hope he hasn't been reading it right now, i shouldn't have been thinking about how comfy his lap is, and how cute he looks like-oh god he can hear me, can't he?' she cried mentally, beginning to panic slightly.

Looking down slowly, he saw her squirm lightly, forgetting that she was pretending to be asleep, and he pressed his chin onto the top of her head, making her go "eep!"

The group laughed, excluding the Ice King, who was occupied with what he had dubbed "MegaGunter". "Girl, you do realize that your wiggling about on your boyfriends lap, yes?"

"Maybe she does, Smithy. She might be so happy she is giving him a lap dance!" she cried, holding her sides from the pain of the laughter.

She stopped, and felt herself wishing she could go hide in a hole somewhere. She felt less like this, however, when Finn gave out a guttural growl. "Don't be a butt, you guys. Your being very not math right now." He picked her up gently, and began carrying her towards the small bridge that connected the Ice kingdom and Fire kingdom.

All the while, Flame princess wanted to tell Finn to put her down, but only found herself aware of how close Finn's hand was to her rear. Shifting slightly to avoid anything that would make her pass out again, she cuddled into the boy, and looked up at him. "My hero." she said, pecking him on the cheek.

All the while, Ice King cried over the now destroyed MegaGunter, the tides having decided to taunt him. Sobbing, he realized that everyone was leaving without him, and broke into a sprint. "Wait up guys! Guys, wait up!"

As for Smithy and Marceline, they both mentally wondered how Jake was going to properly explain the 'birds and bees' to him, and both began to wonder what their children would look like, imagining a hyperactive flaming finn, causing shudders from both.


	8. Chapter 8

An: Hello, once again!

I feel like pointing out something, which is don;t be afraid to tell me if you think i buggered something up. I know Maijin pointed out some shit i did wrong and i was happy to fix. The simple thing is that you guys telling me what i fucked up allows me to improve, even if its a tiny thing. So by all means, tell me what i did that was garbage. I'm not gonna go all jack Nicholson on you and smash your door down with a axe.

Oh, to point out, that 'dragon' from the episode davey is by no means what the dragon from two chapters ago looked like. Dear god no. Imagine the usual 6 limbed dragon from fantasy lore. Or, if you play monster hunter (if not, google this) imagine Lao-Shan-Lung with wings and most of his body decaying.

Rant begin

On a unrelated note, if anyone who is reading hasn't played Shadow of the colossus, i would tell you to play it right now. Fuck this story, it's not even that good. Shadow of the colossus was probably one of my top three games which i can't order for how good they are (the others being the walking dead game and Half Life 2). That game was probably the most cinematic and beautiful game to ever have been released. I am only saying this because i found out a lot of people haven't played that magnificent piece of art work. It dwarfs my story by miles, and only has about ten pages of dialogue.

Rant over

Enough of that, onto the tale! Where will we go, hm? Even i don't know until i decide!

Chapter 8: If The World Wasn't About to be Destroyed, This Would Be the Best Day Ever (And the Longest Title Ever)

As we come to the adventuring group today, we see that the couple leads the group, snuggling into each other the best they can without falling to the ground. Finn, Marceline, and The enchanter all glowed a light blue, as if made of ice. The reason being, while that they all were immune to fire for various reasons, their clothes were not. Having deemed walking around nude a bad idea, the Ice king had spoken up, saying he had a "Flame-Lightning-Lycan Shield" he had made previously. Asking why, he told him about how he had gotten into a fight with a massive werewolf, who had been trying to eat Princess Bubblegum, and he had tried to save her.

No one believed him.

Anyway, the old wizard didn't look much different, except for his beard now glowing blue, which made him look even stranger, shuffling along in that oversized robe. Mind you, the scenery was strange, the earth had been torn apart by steam and lava, causing their path towards their goal to be a lot more dangerous, as the shield could disperse if placed in direct contact with high amounts of heat for too long.

"Ice King, where did you say the Amulet was, exactly?"

"Hm? Oh, it was past the Fire Kingdom, in the Burning Badlands. Horrible place that...really not the place for me. But you asked, friend, and i will deliver!" He cried, raising his fist in the air, trying to mock Finn's usual gesture.

Looking away, Finn just enjoyed snuggling with his girlfriend, who shared the sentiment.

Watching the board, now devoid of many pawns, he chuckled lightly. "Looks like...the...Castles are coming to block the advance." he said slowly, watching them move into positions. "I hope...that they can handle it."

The ground began to shake, causing Finn to draw his sword and place Flame princess behind him, which caused her to growl and go around him. Just because she liked cuddling didn't mean she couldn't fight! She said mentally, glaring at Finn. As he was about to apologize, the earth exploded in a massive crack of sound, and they watched some form of serpentine monster slither out, it's body covered in flames, hiding it's true form. Behind it slithered a identical creature, the massive things easily the size of a entire street. Hissing with such power to cause them to block their ears, they watched their prey carefully.

* * *

Smithy was going to have none of this, he decided, and bit down on his thumb. As the blood leaked down his finger, he smeared it across his knuckles. This, in turn, caused his entire left hand to glow furiously, a rainbow of colors that revealed how many had been activated by the blood.

* * *

Information on Blood Runes:

Like his regular runes, which he can activate by simply running his own energy inside them, or artifcat runes which draw power from the world itself, Blood runes draw power from...blood (surprise!). They use the crimson liquid as the base of the power, making them much more dangerous then his average runes. However, he has to re-apply blood each time to use them, making them dangerous and slow to use.

* * *

Charging like a mad man, he ignored the flames licking at his body, which quickly dispelled the barrier with a small pop. Leaping onto the closest one, he drove his fist into the creatures flaming hide, his smithying clothes becoming very singed, and allowed the runes to imprint themselves on it's skin.

Quickly, the runes that had been placed on his knuckles activated. Had anyone understood the runes, they would have read "Dampen, Weaken, Drain, Poison and Slow." The cacophony of affects kicked in, the flames dying down, then completely extinguishing themselves, revealing a black scaly hide, the serpents body now visible. It hissed, and fell to it's side, It's own power draining into Smithy, while magical poison pumped it's way through it's body, followed by the last magical rune slowing the creature to a crawl, taking a good 20 seconds to just hit the ground.

The second snake hissed, and snapped at the Smithy, gripping him in it's massive flaming fangs. At this point, he had little chance, his blood evaporating before he could swipe it. He powered up the few runes that would help, They only assisted in keeping himself inside the creatures mouth and not it's stomach, and he mentally screamed at himself. 'can't die, can't die, can't die. She'll be so upset if i die...i won't hear the end of it when she dies, too..."

* * *

The Ice king watched the chain of events with mild fear, the creatures hissing making him wish to flee. However, he watched the strange smithy man charge and attack one. He had laughed and danced when he saw it go down, but had felt his gut pull at him when he saw the other one grab him.

Mentally, he fought with himself.

"Run!"

"No, Hide!"

"Both of you shut up! Go help, you can save the day!"

He frowned, he doesn't remember that voice. Usually it's just the two telling him what to do.

"Ice King, you can do it! Now save him, and you'll be a hero!"

Frowning, he found himself liking the jist of what this voice was saying, and floated into the air, supported by his magical beard. He pulled onto the crown, asking for power, and it gladly gave it to the mad man, it wanting nothing more then to make it's owner happy.

Feeling his body spark with magical power, he bid the air to freeze, the sky to snow, and the earth to frost. Driving all the power he could muster, the temperature took a sudden drop reaching levels of cold that froze the magma into blackened rock in seconds, and caused the white powder to fall from the sky. Both serpents hissed, the one that lay defeated wriggling the best it could, each snowflake like a dagger to it's body. Eventually it stopped, laying dead. The other one, however, gave out a scream and dropped the smithy, attempting to flee into the hole from where it came, but found itself impaled on icicles the size of cars. Hissing, it attempted to free itself, before everything went black thanks to a hailstone the size of a house.

Floating down, the mad monarch huffed, feeling his body burn from the effort. "So...guys, did i do good?" he asked, hoping for compliments. However, he looked over to see shock and awe on their faces, And flame princess drawing into Finn the best she could, shivering from the display. Frowning, he realized that he may have caused trouble, and mentally bid the frozen air away from them, her shivering subsiding.

"Ice King, that was..."

"Bad fucking ass!" cried Marceline, laughing loudly. "Didn't know you had such power, man."

He felt his cheeks turn a darker shade of blue (the best he had to a blush) and smile. "Thanks guy, but i hope i didn't hurt the girl, Finn." he looked at her with mild worry, wanting to make friends with the polar opposite of him in every way.

Trying not to shudder again, she smiled. "It was beautiful to watch, i have never seen snow before. Even if it's cold." she shivered and attempted to get warmer using Finn as a source, who was just as cold as her.

The smithy, meanwhile, pulled himself off the ground and walked over, holding his side. "You couldn't have done that before i was swallowed like a grape?" he gasped, not wishing to do that again.

Marceline let out another string of laughter evoking it from the other three, making the Smithy glare at all of them for the rudeness.

* * *

The Librarian watched the board, smirking. "The bishop shows his true colors, and the actual power he wields" watching the bored, he saw pawns and knight tip over, and wondered what had caused this.

* * *

As we draw to a close, we see the bodies of Grubs, Nikolai, and enough Lycans and Goblins to plaster the main street of Candy kingdom green and brown, which they did, each one drunk as a skunk. They had made their promise true about drinking Candy Kingdom dry, leaving not a drop of booze left. And all was well.


	9. Chapter 9

An: And...I'm still alive.

I'm beginning to wonder if people believe me to be some sort of furry when they read Beast of burden, considering how many people stop at the first chapter. Which, by no means am i one. Mind you, I'm not against them either, i couldn't care less. Still, a passing thought.

On another note, i wish people would review more to tell me what i did wrong and-wait, did i say this last chapter? I don't fucking remember. Either way, feel free to tell me what i did poorly.

Oh, and i found out that there are sodding naruto x sasuke stories that get double my view count easily. And they are all garbage. All of them. Not because of the writing, but because your shipping two characters that have literally zero romantic interest in each other. Albeit, the stories are usually piss poor even if you pretended it didn't defy all logic. At least ship characters that sodding could be gay, don't just grab your favourite naruto dolls and smash their lips together.

Since i have nothing else to say to pad my chapter slightly (everyone does it, don't give me those looks) onto the story!

Chapter 9: A Long Hard Talk

As we begin this part of our tale, we come to a large blue egg, roughly the size of a home. Could you see through the magical egg, you would find our adventurers inside, the magical barrier keeping the heat and/or crazy monsters outside. At this point, Marceline floated in the air like a balloon, asleep, the couple had made camp behind a large rock (and judging by the sounds, were everything but not asleep) And Smithy and the man once known as Simon sat on two rocks, watching a small fire that they had lit.

Smithy watched the Ice King, who was not acting his usual mad self, simply staring into the fire. He had his hands clasped together tightly on his lap, and his eyes were focusing on the flickering light source in front of him. "Ice King, ya there?"

"...Wha? Oh, Smithy, when did you get here!" he cried, surprise on his frosted face.

"Your just hiding, aren't you?"

"...Wha? Hiding? The Ice King hides from no one! Except maybe that Hunson guy...and wolfmen. And spiders. And wolf spiders. And spider wolfs." ge began to list, counting them off of his blue hand.

"Oh stop it, your not as gone as people think you are." he scowled, slapping his hand.

"Ow! That hurt, man. And i have no idea what your talking about." he cried, rubbing his fingers and glaring at Smithy.

"You still have a glimmer of intelligence, of who you were. I am not a fool, Simon." he said, using the name that Finn had informed him of.

He twitched slightly, caught off-guard. "Simon, whose that? I am the-"

"Oh quit it, old man! You act like a mad man, and as if you are some sort of great evil, but you never truly do anything particularly evil. That crown, it gives you near infinite power, you could do anything with it. You can give life to any form of water, give shape to anything you imagine, or even freeze the entire planet, and rule it for all of time. That boy would never be able to defeat you, if you tried. That is why i say this. Your only insane to a fault. I know the power of the crown, my people have studied each regalia from our dimension. We watched through scrying stones as previous owners died within a few days, the madness driving them into the abyss. But you, you wear it for a thousand years, and it is only happy to let you. You could destroy the world, but all you do is play with a child and his dog."

"But why would i destroy the world? I like it how it is. I enjoy walking through the candy forests, floating over the grasslands, and the rest of it. Not very fond of the Fire Kingdom, however..." he said, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "And i enjoy these capers with Finn and Jake. When you spend a thousand years all alone, it's nice to have company once in a while..."he said, looking down quietly.

Frowning, Smithy plucked his crown off of his head, eyeing it slowly. "Hm. Did you know, the originally the regalia didn't come with this tacky golden crown. They were nothing more then four gems, red as blood and powerful as sin. These bases were made, so that users could wear them properly. Otherwise, you would have to hold it to your head to make it work. These other two gems are of lesser power, just wards to protect the user." he said, handing back the crown.

"But why does the big one go into Finn's magic book? Found out he stole it and put it inside it and went to a magic world and he got a wish and he almost destroyed everything and..." he tried to explain, drifting off.

"The Enchiridion, you mean? Each dimension has one, they are linked to various stones of lesser power, and the regalia that resides there." he answered, watching the mad monarch play with the gems distractedly, dropping one into the flames.

Reaching in, Smithy picked it up and handed it to him, and watched him slip it back onto his crown. "Well, it's hard to not be crazy, man. When you have wizard eyes and you can never tell what's what, it starts to drive you even battier then before." he said, swatting at a creature only he could see.

"Hm. Some of the people from my dimension have that...gift. They don't usually survive very long, opting to toss themselves off a cliff." he said sadly, watching the king blink slowly.

"Eh, why would they do that? You gotta take the good with the bad, man. And I, for one, have a lot of bad. Lots of it. If i could sell it, or have someone tow it away, i would probably eat less ice cream." he said giggling, laughing at a thought only he could understand.

"...Have a good night, Simon." He said, stomping his boot into the ground, causing two stone 'tents' to burst from it, Smithy climbing into the left one and laying down. Watching the ice king frowned, wondering how adept at magic that man truly was. He climbed into the provided rock tent, using his beard as a pillow and drifting off to memories he couldn't quite place.

* * *

Meanwhile, we go to the steamier side of the camp (in more ways then one), to see the couple cuddled into each other, using Finn's backpack as a pillow and the large rock as a cover for their actions, their lips pressed against each other as much as possible, only to stop for air once in a while. Gasping lightly, he laughed a little at his girlfriend, who was doing just the same. "Probably...should stop...kissing so much." he gasped out, watching her try to hide a giggle.

"I suppose so, don't want you passing out, Finn." she giggled, watching him glare.

"I think your the one who is going to pass out, FP."

"No, I'm pretty sure it was you, Finn."

Glaring challengingly at each other, they grinned and began to suck face again. This time, Finn decided he would try to win by forfeit, not particularly wanting to see her pass out. He wrapped his arms around her body, leaving them dangerously close to her bottom. He watched her glare at him, refusing to lose even if she felt his hands creeping downwards. However, this failed with a small squeak, when he gave a small squeeze. Smiling widely, he giggled. "I win!" he smiled, only to find himself getting a very upset glare.

He was now the one giving a squeak, and felt her slap him lightly across the face. "You little cheater! How dare you trick a princess!" she cried, overplaying it and trying not to giggle.

He attempted his best 'puppy' face that Jake he had seen Jake used on a cranky Lady Rainicorn, and watched her giggle again, giving in. "Fine, your not in trouble. But no more squeezing...unless i say so." she spoke the bit quietly, cuddling into his chest to fall asleep. He let her, feeling his eyes begin to drift towards the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

An: Hooray for...things!

Well, SCIK reviewed my story, which pretty much doubled my average readers. Her word is apparently magical, or something less stupid. Either way, glad to have more people reading ^.^

As for other things, i keep putting off making a short story version of Beast of burden to send in. Might get some cash, which i need because no one wants to hire a able bodied 18 year old when there is a bunch of 30 year old able bodied folk who still don't have a sodding job since the economic collapse. So, I'm screwed like a lightbulb. I know no one cares, but it's annoying having your parents bitch at you to get a job, when you've been trying for two years and the best you have got was three interviews. Worst is when they do the "back in my day" bullshit, claiming how they found a job in a month. If my eyes could roll any harder they would be rolling along the ground.

On less bitchy notes, the next two tales will be done side by side, but probably not two chapters a day. That would probably destroy my fingers. I'll give up the info when this one is at it's conclusion.

Now, dear readers, onto the tale!

Chapter 10: Loss of a Piece

As we join our heroes, we find them covered in the magical shields that the former Simon provided, making them look like some form of snow people. As they walked off the last bit of horrible rocky ground, they reached the start of the horrible sandy part; The Burning Badlands. The area was infamous for it's danger, with Sinkholes, magma vents that would suddenly rocket from literally anywhere, spraying the area with tiny glass bullets formed from the blast, and the wildlife, a mix of massive scorpions, poisonous snakes, and the strangest creature, the Screaming Cactus. These oddities would give out a loud scream if you got too close to them, which was obviously a bad thing. They didn't seem to have any other semblance of difference from your average cactus, except for the obvious slit of a mouth where it would give out a scream. As such, they avoided them carefully, deeming them a bad thing if they didn't want to fight a angry colossus scorpion.

As the edged their way around another of the howling plants, they came across a odd sight; a oasis of some sorts. They believed it a mirage, until they realized that they couldn't be having one, they weren't overheated, and everyone was looking directly at it. As such, they high tailed towards it, deeming this a chance to cool off (except for the always fiery princess, who just was glad to see Finn smiling, his face had been in some form of frown unless she could do something of it.)

As they approached the small pond, the Smithy and Marceline both began to get a bad feeling, which might have explained why the Ice King had tackled Finn and the flaming princess to the side, narrowly avoiding a large bony spike that burst from the ground.

Using all of his available strength, he carried the two back towards what he presumed safety, which was a large flat rock. Landing, he put down both of them, and looked at his now painfully burning skin in surprise. "Oh dear! Hot hot hot hot hot!" he cried, freezing the left half of his body with ice before shaking it off. "Oh thats so much better...whew...you guys okay?" he said, looking at the two surprised teenagers.

"Man, how did you know that was coming?" Finn said, watching the Ice King peer towards the trapped oasis.

"Hm? Oh, i could feel it in my bones." he said simply, watching Marceline lift Smithy (with great effort) over to the rock, a few spikes attempting to find them and turn them into fleshy marshmallows on a stick. Landing hard, Smithy grunted from the landing, and glared at the vampire, who stuck her tongue out at him. "Your fat!" she cried, rubbing her sore arms.

He suddenly frowned, and pulled her beneath him. "What the-get off me you perv!" she cried, smacking him roughly in the chest.

"Your friggin rune is about to give out, you fool!" he said, pointing to the symbol which flashed green for a moment before turning back the etched black.

"...oh." she said, a little embarrassed.

Glaring at her again, he motioned to Finn. "Give her that silly hat." he said, watching him pull it from the green rucksack, unfolding as he pulled.

Slipping it on, she kept herself in the available shade, pouting a little. "Your fault, undead. You pushed that rune was too much yesterday, and now your paying for it." Turning, he looked out to the sand, watching the oasis. "Now what the fuck is that thing? Anyone know?"

Everyone shook their heads, excluding the ice king who just kept staring.

"Hm...Reminds me of something i ran into a few hundred years ago..." he said, stroking his beard in deep thought.

"And whats that?" The flaming princess asked, still feeling very much in his debt for the save.

"it was this wierd plant covered creature. It attempted to attack the Kingdoms, and destroyed a few i think. It's a shame, i really liked some of those Kingdoms... Ended up attacking me, and I am pretty sure I froze it in a block of ice..." frowning, he slips a cell phone from underneath his robe, and dials something.

"Gunter? Hm? Gunther? No, put on Gunter...Ah Gunter! Do me a favour, sweetums, go check to see if the big monster daddy froze is gone." he waited a few minutes. "It is? Eh? Theres a bunch of rotting plant stuff everywhere? Oh my. Thanks Gunter." he turned it off, sliding back under his rob.e "Yup, its that thing" he confirmed.

"Well, how did you beat it?" Marceline asked, hating the sun again for not letting her outside of the shade.

"Hm? It attacked underground, sending big thorny things everywhere. I guess it was just covered with plants...Anyway, it tried to smash my Kingdom, so i froze each of it's thorn things in place, and it emerged from the ground fully, so i turned it into one of my mountains." he explained with a laugh, remembering how surprised one of his penguins looked when the earth had rattled like that.

"Then can you do that again, Simon? I don't think i can time it right to get a rune on them." Smithy spoke up, watching him shake his head.

"Way too hot, smithy my boy, it would just melt and do nothing to assist us." Frowning, he looked out over the sand, watching the lava burst from a dune on the horizon, spraying sand everywhere. "Heeeeyyyyy...what about your little honey, Finn, my boy? She could just glassify the area and catch it!" He said, smiling at his brilliance.

Finn frowned a little, not liking the sound of F.P fighting whatever that thing was. "Do we have any other options?" he asked meekly, trying not to look at the glaring girl, who was obviously not happy in the slightest.

"I know some Fire magic, but not enough to do that. Hm...I could buy her time, though." he said, biting his thumb.

Slipping it down his left arm, he rubbed against several runes, before slapping the sand with his palm. He grinned, watching the sand harden, turning to rock, and then exploding, revealing three rock golems, one of his prized abilites. Each stood as tall as a tree, and the solid brown rock made them as tough as sin to destroy. Grinning, he pointed to the girl. "Her Dainty little feet won't be heard if i send my boys here out to stomp about, and she can get the buggers stuck in place. Simple, and you don't have to worry, me boy." he patted Finn on the shoulder, and nodded to the golems.

* * *

They saluted, and ran off through the dunes, the sound of them crashing about stirring the creature, which attempted to destroy them. Taking her chance, she fled onto the sand, stepping as quickly as she could, and realized how terrible a dress is for running. She watched one of the bony spikes pierce up at a golem, which grabbed onto it and attempted to keep it up as long as possible. She mentally thanked the golem, and summoned the dangerous power which made her so dangerous. Lobbing balls of flame at the sand, she watched it glass up around the bone thorn, the golem letting go and backing away. The thorn attempted to pull away, and she heard a queer scream from under the ground, before a loud snap rang out. Looking through the glassified area, she saw that the spike had broken against the magma glass, which had apparently cut into the bone and left a jagged edge on the remains of the spike. She giggled, and ran off to glass another one.

* * *

Watching from the stone, Finn became increasingly worried about the events, this having been occuring for so long that the sun had began to set. Watching her run about glassing each thorn, each one breaking after the struggle, he began to become slightly twitchy in his seat. His anxious feeling didn't die down when a golem was destroyed by a thorn, shattering the magical creature into bits of rock. The thing reformed itself, but now stood much smaller. However, it still drew the attack, and moved even quicker then before, dodging them with surprising grace. He felt himself twitch to go to the girl, wanting to help in some form, but felt his shoulder restrained by Smithy. "She'll be fine boy, she has more power then a dragon within her."

* * *

Giggling, she watched the three golems charge about aimlessly, dodging the various spikes. She could tell only three of them remained, her attacks having apparently worked. Aiming to hit another, she felt herself tossed to the side by the shaking, the ground beginning to part to reveal something large and white. She felt the smaller golem scoop her up, backing away with her in arm, and looked out too see the head of a monstrosity. It was nearly impossible to describe, a massive creature covered in rotting blue flesh, having no eyes, just a mouth made of four massive lips, each lined with jagged rows of teeth. It looked almost like a snake, but from various sections of it, she spotted the remains of the thorn things from it's body, held to it by decaying flesh, apparently stretching to snap through the ground. The thing hissed and screamed at her, and she found the golem charging away, the other two charging at it, grabbing onto it and attempted to slow it down. They were promptly crushed, however, and it began charging towards her and the helpful golem, sliding across the sand with its massive jaws open.

* * *

Finn had began to charge out, but watched Marceline beat him to it, speeding through the air on magic alone. Reaching the two, she fled past them and began to morph, taking one of the unspeakable evils forms she had learned over the years. She flet her limbs become tentacles, her body becoming a mass, forming into a form she really quite hated. Gripping the creature, she attempted to use the limbs to restrain it long enough to get everyone to safety, but found the Ice King floating above her, whipping long icicles at the creature, leaving nasty gashes in it's side. The thing screamed and attempted to bite at the floating monarch, but found it's throat full of ice. It hissed through the ice, breaking it was jaw power alone.

Marceline found herself regretting the choice of form when it turned and drove it's massive jaws into her, biting a large section out of her, which would have made her scream if she had lips. This led to the once called Simon to summon a icicle as thick as a tree, magically tossing it with all of his might. It crashed into it's side, sending it off the vampiric mass of tentacles, onto the ground. Using the opportunity, the Ice King let loose a flurry of icicles, turning the beast into a fleshy piece of swiss cheese. It stopped wriggling, laying dead once more, and the Ice King huffed loudly, his body burning from the use of magic. He looked down, watching the girl shrink down, laying in the sand. Worry washed over him, and he dove down with surprising speed, landing next to her to check her pulse. Realizing how stupid that was, he lifted her up, and gently shook her. "Marceline, you okay? Marcy?" he said, softly, carrying her towards the group.

* * *

They watched him bring the limp undead to them, and Smithy took her gently after some gentle words to the king of ice and snow, laying her down. He took the stick from his pocket and slit his wrist, cutting across several runes, destroying them. Leaving it over her face, he watched quietly. Her hand twitched, and she latched onto the wound, Sucking the blood from it mercilessly. He frowned, allowing her, and if his shirt had been removed, two runes on his back, the symbols for "regain" and "blood" glowing profusely. After ages, she stopped, laying back and gasping. "What...the...hell...happened." she said, looking up, not even sure of what she was just doing. Opening her eyes, she looked to see a very tired Smithy sitting back, now missing a large quantitity of blood and magic. Frowning, she looked to see Finn with a worried look. "You were injured, and smithy let you drink some of his blood."

"...How long was i drinking?"

"...about ten minutes."

Her eyes shot fully open, looking towards the smithy, who should have been a husk at this point. "Don't worry, i am fine. More or less. But you shouldn't be fighting anymore." whistling to his remaining golem, it picked her up and charged away, ignoring her cries of refusal. Sighing, he laid down on the rock, and pounded the earth with his fist, the egg like barrier encapsulating the large flat rock they sat on. He drifted off, ignoring the words that the others spoke, deciding he was being much more of a hero then usual.


	11. Chapter 11

An: Hello ello!

My computer was formatted. Again. Don't know what keeps fucking happening, don't fucking care.

I've been growing in views quite rapidly, makes me very happy.

Now, since I've asked this before **PLEASE ACTUALLY GIVE ME YOUR OPINION HERE. **I've been pondering creating a short story work off of Nikolai, roughly of a couple days in his life. I'm thinking of sending this here and there and attempting to get published, as the money could help me quite a bit. I am curious if anyone thinks i will succeed or fail miserably. Your opinion might give me enough motivation to fix my work up/send it in, so please do.

As for some people who keep saying how they like one scene, it's always the scenes i wanted to add more to, which makes me feel very stupid.

Now, lets get the ball moving.

Chapter 11: Caves Are Always Terrible. Always.

We come to find our troop of heroes sitting on the very edge of the badlands, with very confused looks on their faces. All of them stared down, and saw the badlands simply ended, suddenly becoming a lush Jungle. The forest was thicker then Smithy's beard, and it was unlikely they could cut their way through, or even burn through, as the entire area was covered in a slick of rain. "Little Hero, how does this exactly work? Shouldn't this be a gradual change, not...this?" he asked, confused. He stepped inside the jungle's perimeter and immediately felt much cooler, the perspiration already covering him. Frowning, he looked back to the three of them who were visibly sweating, and spoke up. "There is so much water in the air it might kill the girl by stepping inside, eh?" He spoke up, waving his arm between the borders and watching the mist evaporate then form again.

Flame Princess became quite upset, Finn could tell, by the large pout on her lips and the sudden squeezing of his hand. Kissing her gently, he sighed. "Looks like ya have to head home, F.P"

"But...but..."she whined, not wanting to end the journey. "It's dangerous out there! Your going to make me walk all the way back!" she cried, attempting to guilt him into letting him stay.

"I can just summon a golem." Smithy piped up, and then flinched by the glare he got.

"But...but..." she gave up, defeated, and watched Smithy form another Golem, which saluted and picked her up, and began charging across the badlands. "Don't let Finn get hurt or I'll hurt you all!" she cried before the golem brought her out of distance.

Shuddering, Ice King and Smithy both looked at each other with mild fear, deciding to be careful with the boy.

In The end, they decided to go over the jungle, The thick canopy tough enough to hold them safely. As they walked, they listened to the sounds below them, strange birds and lizards making even stranger sounds. However, Finn grew bored of this and began to quiz smithy as they walked.

"So, why is it only you can make those magic rune things?" he asked, watching the man twitch.

'oh god damn it, not this again' he thought grumpily. "I don't know, boy. I am the only one who knows what they mean or how to carve them properly."

"Hm. How did you learn about them?"

"They come to me in dreams."

"Oh. Whats your strongest rune?"

Growling, he glared a little. "The one of my carving staff, "Creation". It is with that i can form any rune. Also makes a decent weapon if needed be."

"So, is that the only magic you can use?"

"No, everyone in my world can use any magic. It's just that everyone is born with a talent for one thing or another. I have a talent for earth magic, along side my runes."

Suddenly the Ice King spoke up. "Whats with the 7 symbols on your back? How did ya do them when you can't even reach them?"

Glaring heavily, he answered. "i used a body double to do those. And they are my healing runes. "Regain" in the center, with "Blood, Air, Limb, Flesh, Bone and Skin" circling it. If i activate regain with either of them, it will regenerate any missing parts of me. Of course, i can only do it so much, and some are heavier tolls then others."

He nodded, before pointing to his legs. "What about those two?"

"How do you even see these, i never took off my shirt or pants!?" he cried, exhausted from the questions.

"I can see em through your clothes. My stanky old wizard eyes are to blame, I guess..." he said, a little quieter.

Sighing he answered. "Those are speed runes. They burn through my calories to let me move faster. I don't use them unless i have to, or i could kill myself. Now are we done with the questions?"

"Nope, I'm good. How about you, Finn?"

"Hm...Yup, I'm done." he said, finding the entire scene amusing, drawing his mind off of the flaming girl that would have been holding his hand at this very moment.

As Smithy was about to say something, he twitched and brought his arms up, the blue egg barrier coming up like a shield, and a loud bang was heard, like a weapon had hit off the barrier. Swearing, he jumped back, and looked around. "Oh damn it, did they send a sodding wraith?!" he cried, getting exhausted off all of these undead.

Frowning, Finn looked at him. "What's a Wraith?" his answer, however, was given to him when he found instinct driving his word over his face, and felt something smack into it.

"A undead creature that walks both plains. We can't see em because of that, so we must-" they heard a loud sound only describable as 'the sound you get when something freezes suddenly' and turned to see a block of ice, a humanoid hole inside it.

"Wha? You can't see them?" he said, rubbing his beard.

"...Of course! Your wizard eyes let you see both plains, so you can see the wraiths. Very helpful, i suppose."

The King of ice and snow smiled, liking the sound of being helpful, and looked about. "Guys, what if i told you i saw about 90 billion of them, all coming from the east?"

"I would say we run west." Smithy said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh. Then lets do that." He gave out something between a scream and a shriek and flew off as fast as he could, Finn and Smithy getting the idea and joining the mad dash.

"What...do...we...do..." Finn panted in between steps, his lungs burning from the speed he was attempting to keep.

Smithy tossed a ring at him, and he slipped it on, feeling the burn disappear. "That ring will let ya run without exertion for a while. Won't last forever. We need to find something made of stone."

"Why stone? Couldn't we just roll into a ball and cry until they go away?"

"No, they can't phase through stone. Or ice, apparently, but i don't think freezing this entire area is a suitable option." pointing north west, he speeds in that direction. "That mountain should do for losing them. Probably has a cave or something. Or maybe a tunnel." He picked up pace, and the others didn't think much about doing the same when they heard a smashing sound from behind their feet.

* * *

As they reached the mountain range, which loomed heavily across the jungle, they found what they wanted between tired breaths; a large gaping hole in the side of the mountain. Diving in, Simon froze the entrance as quickly as possible, to be greeted by the sounds of bodies hitting it roughly. Freezing it even more to support it, they started backing up. "Yeah, that won't last long guys. We need to make like gunter does when i catch him with a bottle."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Smithy asked, holding his legs and gasping for air.

"We need to waddle our butts as far away as possible."

"Sounds like a plan!" Finn cried, walking into the darkness. Then promptly walking out when he realized he didn't have any form of light.

Smithy Sighed and murmured something, a ball of light appearing and illuminating the cavern.

"Woah! What's that?" Finn cried, trying to grab the small orb.

"It's a simply Orb of Light spell. Toddlers can do it, not that big of a deal. Now lets get moving."

Trudging along the dank cave, they found themselves stepping over bodies of dead animals, pieces of their skeletons and flesh missing. They shuddered mentally, and hoped they wouldn't run into anything that dangerous, and shuddered again when they stepped around the corpse of a forest troll, the brute missing a large section of it's chest, and burn wounds all over the corpse. Flinching, they all stopped moving by the sounds of stepping, each massive step sounding like if a tank could walk. Turning a corner, they saw something turn and look at them. It stood nearly as tall as Smithy and twice as bulky, wearing something that looked like a suit of armour from hell. It seemed to be made of multiple plates of heavy shining steel, that made him look like a demon from hell. Whats worse was the helmet of the thing, it's eyes made of some form of thick glass that had a green glow to them, and the entire thing looked to resemble something out of a nightmare. They looked to see that it's left arm wasn't a actual arm, but from where it would have had a arm a massive shining blade existed, the thing looking as heavy as a man and sharp as sin. It's right hand was covered by some form of gauntlet, various holes and other queer things lining it, and gave them a feeling that they had many nasty surprises.

It looked at them slowly, and seemed to ponder something, before grunting loudly. It approached them slowly, and they found themselves unsure of what to do. However, it turned to the dead troll, and drove the blade into it;s flesh, cutting a large piece off of it and picking it up. It pointed it's hand at it, and jets of flame shot out, cooking it. With a small hiss of air being released, it pulled the mouth compartment away and began eating the flesh, causing a gagging sound from Finn. He had tasted troll before, and it tasted like dirty socks.

"...Should we just walk around it?" the Ice King asked, unsure of what to do.

"It doesn't seem hostile. Might be the best idea to not bother-" With a loud smashing sound, they heard the ice covering the end of the tunnel shatter, causing them to flinch. Before they could turn, they could hear the sound of the wraiths approaching, dragging along the walls by the sheer number of them attempting to fit in. As they prepared to die to the swarm, they found themselves pushed behind the massive creature, which seemed to growl, angry at the newest intruders. Bending over slightly, it gave out a unearthly scream that caused the three to hold their heads, the scream echoing along the caves. However, they were greeted to the sound of bodies falling, and their ears popping. Looking up, the Ice King affirmed what they guessed. "They all are dead. Again."

Grunting, it looked to the visitors and waved for them to follow it, apparently deciding something in it's mind. Unsure of what to do, they followed it, deciding the creepy creature was a ally. Or at least for now.


	12. Chapter 12

An: Welcome welcome, one and all!

So...no one said damn thing after i asked. Rude. But i won't bitch, mostly because that's not my style.

I won't even bother to put things here, i have nothing to say.

Lets get the ball moving.

Chapter 12: Father Knight

"...Does this guy creep you out, Finn?" Ice King whispered, trying not to let the...thing hear them.

"He doesn't seem particularly bad, he did save us from those wraith things." Finn whispered back, watching the thing trudge along, leading them...somewhere.

The cave was dank and dark, as per the usual of caves, and was home to various fungus and mosses that grew along the walls. They made careful steps around strange blue ones that gave out hissing sounds when the creature stepped over them. After a few minutes of this, a voice rang out, sounding like a small child, most likely female. "Daddy! Are you back?"

Turning the corner, they came across a strange sight: they saw several children, each no more then 10 years of age, of various creeds and races. They saw boys and girls that ranged from Elemental's to a turtle boy who must have been barely been three, drawing on a piece of paper. Some of the children charged towards the one they called daddy and hugged his legs, the so called parent patting their heads, before reaching into a satchel that hung by it's waist, handing out various items, from toys to books. The small cavern barely resembled what it actually was; The walls were covered in drawings from the children, the floors heavily carpeted with a thick red rug, and various tables covered in items stood around the room. Looking down a tunnel connecting to the room, he spotted some form of bedroom type area full of beds.

Looking down, they saw a small girl staring at them angrily, who seemed to be a Water Elemental, or as they preferred to be called, a Water Nymph. "Daddy, who are these people? They look stupid!" she cried, hiding behind his leg. He patted her head lightly and she peeked over. "Why are you here?"

"We are on a adventure to...what are we doing again? Buying candy or something, right?" The Ice King spoke up, having long forgotten what the point of this was.

"We are on a quest to find a amulet of great power before it falls into the wrong hands." Smithy spoke up, kneeling down to the small childs height. "May i ask why you are all here? Shouldn't you be with your parents?" he said softly, watching her hide again.

"Our parents died. Papa saved us, and he is raising us to be big and strong one day!" she gleemed happily, slipping away from the giants leg.

"Who...or what, is he exactly? And who are you?" Finn said, watching the giant lumber off to break up a fight between two children over some crayons.

"I'm Lana! And that's Father Knight! We call him that, cause he doesn't speak much. He saves children and keeps them safe, and when we get big, we go and live for ourselves." she said, watching the strange group with curiosity in her small eyes.

Finn suddenly had a thought, remembering the lyric Jake had tought him;

Father Knight stands quite tall

Father Knight Protects us all!

He may look scary and bad

But he is really quite rad!

He'll crush the bad men

and all before ten

Father Knight will protect us all!

The rhyme had always been a tad creepy, and how it been started was apparently not widely known, as Jake had shrugged when asked what it meant.

Looking over, he saw the two fighting children had ceased the bickering, each working together to draw a picture, Father Knight lumbering back towards them. He gently prodded the girls shoulder, and she nodded. "Daddy says that he wants to help. He says 'I saw you bring the earth to life, make some to protect the children and i'll help'". She attempted to do a deep and growly voice, waving her arms to try and act scary.

"Hm? Why would he help us? He's just some sort of Grey magic creature." Ice King spoke up, studying a wall that showed Father knight fighting what looked to be a pink dragon. The words "Gray magic" Causing Smithy to twitch.

"What do you mean, Simon? No one can wield Gray magic."

"I never said he did, are you going deaf?" He said, looking into Smithy's ear. "He is made of it, I can see it wafting off of him. Sometimes things like these exist, they seem to be as old as time itself. Or something like that, all i know is I once nearly lost my toe to something like him." He explained, grabbing a blue crayon and doodling himself on the wall, flying over the dragon.

Smithy frowned and approached the supposed Grey magic creature, attempting to examine him, only to find himself backing up rapidly by the glare he got from the glowing eye sockets. "Daddy doesn't like being touched by people." She spoke up, holding onto the finger of the massive hand.

Smithy grumbled, and pushed the feeling of curiosity away, deeming that the blade that replaced it's hand a good deterrent. It patted the girls shoulder, and she giggled. She attempted to do the 'daddy' voice again as she spoke. "I want the little ones safe, and if that amulet is taken by what I think is trying, I won't be able to protect them. Summon your Golems, Touched one, and let us be off." She ends it with a roaring noise, which only caused Finn to hold back a giggle.

Curious to why he was called 'touched one', he stomped the earth roughly and carved the needed runes, a trio of rocky soldiers forming. Nodding silently, they charged off to guard the entrances to the cave. As they did this, the children approached the supposed knight, sensing his soon departure, and said various goodbyes, asking for various treats and things, the grey creature nodding to each request, giving a hug to each child before turning to the group. Silently, he pointed to a tunnel and began walking, the group following quickly.

* * *

After a short while, they found sunlight reaching them, the orb of light extinguishing itself, and they all mentally sighed in relief at the sunlight. Mentally, Finn realized that they had been in those caves for the good portion of the night and morning, and hoped to make camp sooner then later. However, this was dispelled by the sight of a small battallion of undead up ahead, the clearing that led into a massive plains being blacked by the decaying warriors. In the front was a strange creature, it seemed to be some form of troll, but it's fur was on fire and the bits that weren't on fire was nothing more then patches of rotting flesh. It snarled and smashed it's blazing chest, charging at the group. As the group began to ready themselves, they watched Father Knight charge back at it, swinging the blade clean through one of the flaming arms. It howled and slammed the massive fist into his chest, which only led to the large blade swinging around again to cleave the beasts head off of it's neck. The body fell to the ground, slumping, and the massive knight watched the undead charge towards him. They watched the knights eyes flash into a bloody red, and it gave out another unearthly scream, charging into the fray with reckless abandon, bodies being cut into pieces and sent flying in every direction.

The group was about to rest when they spotted several more battalions charging towards the group, each with their own massive flaming troll. Once again, however, the knight seemed to have something planned, bringing it's massive boot down with enough force to fracture the earth, the shaking sending the undead flailing about, falling comically into each other.

At this point, they took their chance to charge into the fray, and began serving specific roles. The mad monarch let loose ice to freeze the snarling trolls, the flaming body armour that would have been a problem being snuffed out, giving Smithy a chance to smash his fist into them, hands glowing white like two small suns, the trolls giving out howls before the flesh burned away with a white flame.

Meanwhile, our lovable hero had gotten into the thick of things, using the blood made longsword to it's perfect use, slicing through the slow and stupid undead without much issue, the various corpses of human and hybrids, however, began to disturb him slightly. He became enraged at what his brethren bodies where being used for, and doubled his effort, cutting a clean line through the decaying bodies. This was changed when he dived out of the swing of a large longsword, being wielded by a undead that obviously was not the same as the rest, wearing armour that belonged to the feudal era of Asia, what was once called "Samurai". The skull that rested inside the blood coloured armour staring into him. He dodged another swing of the massive Dai-katana, and attempted to drive his blade into the creatures side, only to be blocked by the imposing weapon. He frowned, realizing that whoever this had been was a much greater swordsmen then he was, and needed something to turn the tides. This came when Father Knight had reappeared briefly through the horde, sending a undead man wearing the outfit of a mail man into the samurai, causing it to stumble and lose focus. Taking his chance, he drove the sword home, driving it through the thick armour into it's chest. The sound he heard wasn't one of blade on bone, but blade on flesh, and pulled it to reveal the blood sword had been coated in even more blood, this being a sickly black. The Samurai creature coughed, holding the wound, and fell to the ground, bleeding out slowly.

Feeling bad for it, he drove the sword into the back of it, watching it twitch before going still, before slipping the blade out. Looking inside the hole he had made, he found himself realizing that the torso inside had been perfectly preserved, only the limbs and skull having been turned skeletal. Thoroughly disgusted, he turned to see the horde had dwindled to a few, and said few were under the boot of Father Knight, being crushing into a fleshy paste. Panting lightly, he cleaned the sword on the grass and sheathed it on his backpack, looking to see the condition of everyone else.

Smithy was cleaning his hands off to the best of his ability, each one covered in gore, where the Ice King sat on top of a Trolls corpse, speaking to a skull. "To be or not to be, that is the question..." he spoke, continuing the rest of the line, making Finn wonder just what he was quoting.

Father Knight seemed to be the most gored one, the shining armor covered from head to toe in blood and flesh, and shook himself like a large metal dog, attempting to shake off the vile substance that coated him.

Sighing, Finn decided it would be a good time to make camp and rest, his body tired from the running, then walking, then fighting.


	13. Chapter 13

An:Welcome back!

Glad to see my views are increasing rapidly, makes me feel quite happy.

In another note, fuck turtles. Fuck them, they are terrible pets. My female who i named tank (because she was nearly double the size of the male, and still is) has been up all night squeaking. What, didn't know turtles can squeak? Well they can. All the time. Non stop.

Now, before I plan to make turtle soup out of her, onto the story!

Chapter 13: It's Learning Time!

Finn found his eyes wandering the small campsite, looking at the odd group that had assembled. The one called Father Knight sat at the edge of the camp, looking at the moon through the terrifying helmet, the Ice King sat and did the same thing, sitting right next to the massive magic creature, talking lightly to it, which seemed to nod once in a while. This left Smithy and him sitting at the campfire, quietly watching the flames dance about. Deciding to make more conversation, he looked to Father Knight and spoke up. "What is Grey magic, exactly?"

stroking his beard, he decided that this might be a good way to pass the time and answered the boys question. "Grey magic is the purest of magic, the very essence of life. All magic originates from it, but no man can wield it. Or so they say."

"But what is White and Black magic, then?" he said, watching the man in fascination.

"It is magic which we summon using our hearts. It take alliances to one side or the other of life, good and evil, or black and white. We take the power of grey magic, but we filter it through our hearts, and it gives way to magic which we can use."

"So a bad man can only use bad magic?" he said simply.

"Far from it. When you cast spells, you decide what they must be, black or white. Magic is an absolute, there is no other choice. Black magic was sealed to us for many years, as using it tends to corrupt the heart. But when the artifact was found, it released the seal that blocked the darker magics."

"Artifact? You mean that thing you talked about, that corrupted the mages?"

"Yeah, that one. It was destroyed by the Hero, but it's effect was obvious, as all can use wither side of magic." he said quietly, stroking his beard.

"Are there any signs of gray magic before?" Finn asked, pointing over to the massive metal beast.

"Except for the regalia, not a thing. Usually, artifacts run off of white or black magic, absorbing the energy from around them to power the magical item. But the Regalia seem to be infinite amounts of grey magic, that the user can transform into white or black magic at will." he said, waving towards the Ice King.

Apparently noticing, the Ice King sauntered over and sat down, cocking an eyebrow. "Whatcha guys talking about?" he said, stroking his beard.

"Grey magic. Didn't you say something about seeing something like him before?" Finn asked, remembering his vague mention of it.

"Hm? Oh yeah, i saw something that gave off his kind of power. Looked nothing like him though. Was tall...and...thats really it, actually. Didn't seem to care for a form very much. Was much more horrifying then him, though."

"How so?" Finn replied, confused by the statement.

"Remember how scary the Lich was? Take that by 100, and add a sudden loss of control over your bowels and the overwhelming urge to ball up and cry." he said, giggling for some odd reason.

"And you fought this...thing?"

"Heavens no! It looked at me...or whatever you would call it when something doesn't have a face...and i passed out. Woke up with Gunter sitting on my stomach, staring off like he was on guard duty or something. Either way, That's why i don't open scary looking boxes anymore." he said, forgetting the point of the conversation.

"Box? What box?"

"Hm? A fox?!" he cried, leaping to his feet and onto a nearby log. "Oh no, a fox! Head for high ground! "

"No, Box, man! Jeez calm down, your acting like a fox is such a threat." he said, shaking his head at the odd monarch.

"Well you would be afraid of them when they always try to steal your crown!" he cried, sitting back down with a 'humpf!' sound.

"Either way, that thing sounds nothing like Father Knight. He seems more like a white magic creature."

Finn said, attempting to use the magic slang that smithy had been using.

"What? No such thing exists. Only golems." Smithy said, watching the boy flinch at his mistake.

"But your golems are alive, smithy, my boy. But they aren't white magic. More of a off grey, really." Ice King spoke up.

"What are you babbling about? There is only three types of magic. White, gray and black."

"Actually, more like 200. Your really not very knowledgeable, are you?" Ice king said disapprovingly, shaking his head and making tsk sounds.

Feeling a vein on his forehead throb, he glared at him. However, Ice King spoke up, cutting off whatever he was going to say. "White and black magic are just the furthest parts of the spectrum, man. You can have spells that are more grey then white or black. Your golems reek of grey magic, that rune you use even gives it off. You silly mortals and your thinking that only three bases exist." He laughs loudly, stroking his beard to further mock Smithy I'm some queer way (and it worked)

Nearly screaming at the man, he attempted to calm down and ignore the bearded lunatic. This was assisted by a curious feeling in his mind that the crazy man was right, and sighed. "Enough on this subject, we need to plan."

"Plan what? A picnic? Not the time, smithy, my boy. We stop to have a nice lunch, and we could be swimming in undead! And then i have to find my sun tan lotion, and make sure that it's over spf 50..."he droned on, losing the subject again.

"No, you mad man! We need to plan how to defeat whatever we would call what is left of that stupid necromancer. She probably absorbed enough of the pendent to become something close to a avatar of fire." he said, drawing a fire symbol in the ground.

"Avatar of fire? Whats that?" Finn questioned, looking up at the older man, getting a bad feeling about this avatar thing.

"When a mage becomes powerful enough with a element, whether it be fire, earth, water, wind, lightning, or any combination, they can become the Avatar of that element for a period of time. This bestows amazing levels of power. However, most have to receed back into their previous form after a while, or...well, boom! But she probably can't, the power has nowhere to go, so she needs to amulet, which would be overpowered by the stolen energy. As such, we need to either kill her or stop her long enough for the flames to snuff her out." he replied, causing the Ice King frown.

"Wait, I'm going to have to fight that, aren't I?" Ice King spoke up, suddenly wondering if this was a good idea.

"Well, unless I'm wrong, your much more powerful then it, because you have actual access to the Regalia." Smithy said simply.

"But, that sounds really dangerous! I didn't think id be fighting a monster made out of the element that can fry me like a fish!" he cried, not liking the situation at all.

"Well-"

"Smithy, that isn't right. If Ice King doesn't want to, he won't. It's not right to froce someone to fight for you." He said, defeating Smithy's complaint.

Grumbling he looked into the fire. "Your the hero, I suppose."

The Ice King found a smile creeping onto his lips, and gave Finn a friendly hug. "Thanks, buddy."

Feeling a little embarrassed by the hug, he smiled. "No problem, man."

Waving his arm to make himself look like some sort of great wizard, he rose to his feet. "I shall assist them, dear friend!" he said, sending snow into the air from his palms.

Rolling his eyes at the antics, Finn found himself laughing at the man, deeming him 'a sort of math guy'. "Lets get to bed, then. We got a lot of distance to travel."

Nodding, they all made their way to the stone tents Smithy had formed previously, and slipped inside, each falling into slumber.


	14. Chapter 14

An: Welcome back!

I had an epiphany for the next story, which will be much more...spooky. Hopefully it will be up to what i imagine it will be.

Well fuck me, turns out that since i posted the last story, it has doubled in readers who read it start to finish, and this one has triple the amount of views a chapter. Quite nice.

Lets start, boys and girls!

Chapter 14: Spare Piece

The Librarian sat, frowning once more. The board had expanded to the size of a small pool table, as the sheer amount of pawns on the blacks side would have consumed the smaller board. They ungulfed the area around the king and queen, who moved towards the prize. However, that isn't what was causing his annoyance, as a new piece had entered the board.

It annoyed him because it wasn't a planned piece, and he did not like this one bit. The piece was of the Father knight, but was neither black or white, but a dull grey. It moved with the white party, but he didn't like this one bit. Watching the board, he spotted the pawns break off and charge directly towards the small group. If each pawn represented a battalion...he frowned, hoping that he wouldn't have to cash in a favour anytime soon. He was running low on those.

* * *

As the small group began to walk, the point of the goal became obvious; a massive volcano that did not match the landscape, spewing lava fiercely, the only thing of any height in the entire plains. Frowning, Finn pointed to it. "I thought the amulet was out of power?"

Smithy frowned, nodding. "Must be, that Volcano is puny compared to what it can do."

This disturbed Finn a great deal, the volcano double the size of the Ice King's Castle, and ten times as dangerous looking, rivets of flaming rock driving down the mountain. As he was about to comment on it, they found themselves looking down the horizon again, a wave of black coming towards them, the length of it was so great Finn had to move his head to see the edges of it.

"Is that...all undead?" Ice King spoke up, trying to strain his eyes by making a telescope out of his hand.

"...Fuck." Smithy spoke up, looking across the wave of undead.

"Well, nice knowing you guys." Ice King said, about to float away back to his castle, his cowardice out speaking his courage by a mile. However, he found himself still standing there, even with his mind screaming at him to run.

"Not leaving then?" Smithy spoke up, watching him grit his teeth.

"Apparently not, Smithy." He replied, sitting down to think.

"...I know what to do." Smithy said, biting a thumb.

"Whats that? You gonna make a "turn undead into harmless bunnies" rune?" The Ice King cried.

Finn frowned, and felt himself wishing he was back with Flame princess.

"No, I'm going to fight fire with fire." pulling the apron and shirt off, he rubbed the blood across many runes, and slapped his hands into the ground. This time, he spoke some form of chant, the runes on his body glowing fiercely, a rainbow of colours.

"Upon the Sacred undead I call, come to our aid. We need those who fought for the light to fight once more! Come to me, Blessed ones, let us strike down evil as a mighty force!" he spoke, the colours coming from his body causing Finn to wince and look away. He looked back, however, when the ground began to shake.

He watched a lake of hands to reach from the ground, pulling themselves from the earth. He looked at them, confusion on his face. They were dead, that was obvious. but their bodies did not show signs of decay. Each body was pale as a ghost, however, and armoured with various things. His shock doubled when he spotted Billy in the crowd of dead, wielding his famous sword. He yelled to him, and watched the massive hero turn and wave, smiling. Turning back, he watched the horde of dead continue to raise, and began tor recognize faces from the Enchiridion, Heroes that Finn had always thought of as more legend then reality.

Finn found himself looking towards Smithy, but suddenly realized the man was no longer standing, laying on the ground, his skin as pale as the dead that now walked again. Shaking him roughly he turned him onto his back, and the man coughed weakly, looking towards the boy. "You better Damn win, Little Hero. You better damn-" his mouth froze, and he looked about, his head not moving even if he tried. He saw a door appear, and a man open it and walk out.

"Silly Smithy,You only had to get the amulet,but you gave your life. Now, I would let you die..."the beared wizard laughed lightly, his strange rapid speaking that was still somehow broken, taking odd pauses where he had no need to beginning to drive him mad."...but, your wife was very...very...upset. After she assaulted me, I decided it might be best to make you another deal. I offered you two things for your job, a way back home and your wife. But, I will take away the trip home...in exchange for a transplant of power." he smiled lightly, tapping his chest with a single hand, a rush of power blazing into his chest. Time began to move again, and he heard his final words. "Rise...and shine, Smithy."

Finn watched the man, his skin turning from pale to flush in a instant, causing him to jump in surprise. He lifted himself up, and stroked his beard. "Might be my lucky day, boy. Now take Simon and the knight and go, We'll keep them busy!" he cried, charging towards the front of the army of Heroes.

* * *

He nodded, and the three began to run (well, in Father Knight's instance, you would call it stampeding, and Ice King flew using his magical beard) around the army, heading for the volcano on the horizon.

Smithy turned, and looked at the army he had summoned using his most powerful runes in succession. 'Come, Heroes of this world! We stand here, to destroy these hordes, to release them from the torment of forced service, and to fight for the lives of the living! Let us ANNIHILATE THEM!" He boomed, the heroes giving out cheers, the sound booming across the plains. They were outnumbered easily, but they wouldn't give up without ease.

Charging like mad men, the army of Heroes charged towards the fray, prepared to die once more.

* * *

The Lich floated over the ground, the trail of death being a very obvious trail, had anyone followed them. Next to him stood the mad pyromancer, whose very form was rapidly changing, the weak mortal body not able to contain the might of the power. The Lich heard feet pattering, and turned to see his Jester coming towards him The Jester had been with his servant for quite some time, but had disappeared when he had been stuck in that accursed sap prison inside the Yggdrasil, the tree that had sprouted inside the Candy Kingdom.

The jester had been his informant for many years, having created him many years ago as a scout. He looked to him, silently awaiting his report.

"It's as you feared, sire. The wolf man defeated the dragon, and the siege failed. Even worse, the Dragon gave him some sort of gift. Apparently, his Achilles's heel is now plated with steel!" he cried, his riddled way of speaking always annoying the Lich.

"So, he is near invincible now?"

"Aye, and he comes with way, a horde of lycans following. They wish to kill you both, and may just succeed if we don't make like tree's!" he screamed out, jogging next to his floating master.

"How would a few lycan be any danger to me?"

"Not few, sire. Hundreds, Thousands even! And they wear odd jewelry made of plants and such, that save them from your death touch! They will rip you apart like a child does to wrapping paper on christmas morning!"

Frowning, he looked to the mad pyromancer, the once girl jibbering about defeating someone called "the enchanted smithy" or something. This plan was failing rapidly, he decided, and may need a back up.

"Sire, if i may suggest, we should flee! That many Lycan would be a threat to anyone, and that body of yours won't survive very long against the furry fighters."

The pyromancer heard this and screamed at him, tossing black flame at him, which he dodged with surprising grace. "No FLEEING! Fight with ME or your an ENEMY!" she screamed, rubbing what he presumed was suppose to be her arms rapidly.

The Lich took the situation into context, and thought carefully. On one hand, they were much closer to the volcano then the heroes, but on the other hand, those lycan would reach them before they met the base of it. The lycan's would probably leave the pyromancer to the leader, and attack him. He could possess one, but they wouldn't hesitate to kill the packmate. As such, The Lich decided that his best move was to flee. Turning to the jester, he nodded and swiped the air, a small rift forming. The jester tossed himself into it, and the Lich flew into it, closing behind him, just dodging a black flame aimed for the undead nightmare. Screaming, the flaming woman charged at volatile speeds towards the volcano, refusing to lose to the heroes. "will get...will get get get get get GET GET GET GET GET GET GET!"


	15. Chapter 15

An: ah, ello ello, guvnor.

I'll tell you right now, i need to fucking sleep more. I was up all night, and i just woke up at 2pm to get to writing. But i am so easily distracted D: (i hate using emoticons)

On another note, I can't wait for the new story i have planned. I almost wanted to abandon this one, then i realized how stupid that would be, and i'd feel bad for leaving this tale unfinished.

Now, lets get to it!

I was pondering it, and the dragons that show up in adventure time look more like mammals (they have teats). So definitely nothing like the fantasy style dragon.

Chapter 15: Buying Time

"Kill...kill kill kill kill kill..."

Nikolai snarled from the bushes, staring at the strange flaming creature. After recovering from the two day drinking binge, and then vomiting for the good portion of another day, he had found out that not all of his pack was as...easily distracted. They had scouted the enemy out while the rest had been partying, and made a mental note to 'promote' them, which would essentially make them a higher rank in the pack.

He turned to a small group of his pack, the ones who had recovered with him, and frowned. This was dangerous for them, they can't just attack head-on. His mind went to work, trying to plan the best strategy, and it came to him after a few moments. Grinning, he gaves the command to the pack, who nodded and disappeared into the woods.

He wondered where the Lich was, having gotten some plant amulets from Paggy (his wizard friend who had control over the earth, haivng said 'dey be very good juju, mon!') that would stop the rotting effect the lich seemed to exude, but apparently it was all in vain. However, it was well worth it to come this way to watch one of his pack charge across the path, causing the mad woman to scream and toss flames at him, missing him entirely. Laughing, he watched the others join in, strategically running out and exposing themselves, drawing her flaming magic towards them, only to miss and scream even louder. His grin grew as he charged out himself, planning on testing the dragon's gift. Leaping, he gripped onto her back and bit into her neck. And oh boy did he regret doing it!

Crying out, he dove off of the creature, his entire body now burning, the orange flames having turned black and ugly, eating away at his fur and flesh. He dove into the bushes, the pack having increased their efforts to keep their leader safe, as he rolled through the plants, putting himself out. Panting, he wondered what the hell just happened. The only thing that came to mind was that that...thing was stronger then a dragon's flame.

Looking out, he watched the flaming mage scream again, and tossed another fireball. For a brief moment, he could see the person underneath, a small frail looking women with skin as pale as a ghost. The fire consumed that part quickly covering her in the flaming armour.

'Hm...she is tossing the actual armour flame at them. That means..." he whistled loudly, and the pack doubled their efforts, causing the women to begin tossing even more flame, leaving temporary gaps in the armour.

Snarling and rubbing his burning tongue, he waited for his moment, and struck. Diving across the clearing, he brought his claw directly towards the neck of the Necromancer, and was able to slip it through the armour just in time. He grinned when he felt blood and flesh resist his claw, slicing into it like a butchers knife. The...thing screamed, the flames growing rapidly as he leapt back. He motioned for the pack to disappear, and they did just that.

He watched her flaming shell grow, reaching the size of a troll standing on top of a Giant's shoulders. It looked down at him through the flaming armour, and frowned. "Oh fuck. Better move quick, Finn..." he mumbled dodging a house sized fireball.

* * *

Meanwhile, Finn, Ice King, and the ever noble Father Knight charged around the clearing, watching the undead army fighting the small horde of heroes, seeing brief flashes of magic, explosions and things that Finn could only describe as "Mathamatical"

He looked up, having not been paying the slightest attention to his running, and realized that he had approached the base of the volcano, the steep incline an obvious problem. However, as he was about to ask what to do, he saw that the Ice King was flying away rapidly, headed around the base of the mountain, shouting "Gotta go help someone!" before disappearing out of sight.

Looking up at Father Knight, he frowned. "So, what do you-Woah!" he attempted to say, being lifted up and placed on his massive shoulder. Gripping onto the helmet for balance, he watched him charge up the steep incline with little issue, apparently not caring much about silly things like gravity.

He could feel the amulet calling to him, his body feeling warm and almost euphoric. He wondered what the Ice King was up to, but focused on the task at hand.

* * *

The Ice King had sense the enemy, the massive walking fireplace having given off enough magical energy that he knew it was coming since they had camped. Having explained the plan to Father Knight, he grinned to himself as he floated, mentally praising himself. 'I bet all the ladies will love me now, eh? At the very least, Finn will probably kick my butt less.'

Reaching the fight, he watched the small lycan charge about, dodging flaming truck-sized balls, his brown fur singed black. Simon thought for a moment, before placing who that was. "Hey! It's you, the one who tried to eat me!" he cried, pointing at him angrily. However, this did nothing but drag the attention of the flaming monster towards him, attempting to swat him out of the sky. Rolling his eyes at the attack, he waved his hand lazily, the flames being encased with ice, before disappearing under the water that melted from the ice. It snarled and tossed fire at him, and he floated to the side of them. "This is really the big bad threat? She isn't even doing the whole "avatar of flame" thing right." he insulted, tossing icicles at her lazily, like she was some form of fly.

She screamed at the aggravation, and grew even more, reaching half the height of the massive volcano, and attempted again to kill him with more flaming orbs. However, he simply dodged them, and frowned. "Your really not very bright. Try and defeat me...ICEVINCIBLE ARMOUR!" he cried, encasing himself with ice, the armour the same size as the flaming beast. He laughs lightly as she attempts to melt it, the water coming off destroying her flaming husk.

"Stupid girl. You don't even know what your doing!" he laughed out, aggravating her again, as she attempted to 'hug' the armour and melt it, shrinking as she does so.

'kill... kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill!' she thought angrily, watching the armour disappear. She reached the center and grinned in victory, preparing to melt the mans bones, when she realized he wasn't inside the giant ice scuplture. Instead, he was on the ground, speaking to Nikolai quietly.

"Well you did try to snap my neck! I was only kidnapping Princess Bubblegum, not trying to kill her! Jeez, man, moderation."

"...Fine. I apologize."

She screamed, and attempted to lob flame at them, but realized nothing had occurred. She also realized that the massive flaming husk she had been hiding inside was gone, leaving her on the ground, vunerable and wet. They ignored her still, speaking to each other.

"Well, i suppose that is true. Maybe i should trim my beard a bit. It is quite bigger then i want it to be..."

"Women don't like men who look like their beards make up most of their body, man."

"True..."

She screamed, and weakly attempted to lob fire at them, sobbing uncontrollably. They turned and shook their heads sadly. The Ice king approached her slowly, and shaked his head at her. "Foolish girl. Even a stanky old wizard like me knows you wouldn't win this way. You wield flame like it is a sword, and that is your mistake."

"Fire Burns, and destroys, but it's greatest power is in it's defence. You wasted it to try and get to me inside the armour, without realizing anything. If only you weren't so stupid...Either way, your devoid of the power now. You'll live the rest of your life, i suppose." he said quietly, helping her up, even as she tried to claw him.

Her sobbing increases, and falls to her knee's, holding her face in her hands. Frowning, he bends down and whispers in her ear. What he said, Nikolai has no idea, but it caused the woman to stop crying and look at him slowly. "R-really?"

He nods slowly, smiling. 'Of course, dear. Your tainted by that evil magic, but it can be cured, just as my madness can be cured by focus. But, it only works so well for me...you have a chance, hm?" he spoke, stroking his beard sagely, his madness obviously taking a backseat to his mind, for now at least.

"What are you speaking of, wizard? She attempted to destroy the world!" he cried, wondering why he wouldn't just let him snap her neck and be on their way.

"You would too when your past is that tortured. The wounds of time are many on her, wolf boy. If you could see what i see, you would forgive her as well." he spoke, glaring at him a little.

Shaking his head, he sighed. "Fine, I won't tell anyone your helping her." He frowned, and sniffed the air slowly. "...I smell death. The Lich is at the top of the mountain, I fear." he said, frowning. "By glob, i do hope he has made it in time..."

* * *

As they reached the top, they were given the sight of the Lich grabbing the Amulet, and slipping it around his undead neck. They both attempted to attack, Finn leaping off of the shoulder he rode and running around the edge of the volcano, and Father Knight pointing the odd gauntlet at him, his leg and arm exploding off of his body. However, flame claimed the flesh and grew around the Lich, the flames giving off no light, pitch black as the darkness that it was made of. Laughing, the now fiery lich began tossing the black flames at Father Knight, whose green eyes turned red as he gave out the unearthly scream, the flames dissatisfying before they reach him. However, he didn't have time to do it again as the fireball that had been behind that one consumed his metal body.

Finn gritted his teeth, and wondered if he would make it out of this situation, and hoped to god that Smithy's rune was powerful enough.


	16. Chapter 16

An: Welcome to the end! Please don't mind the massive cliff, or the large and scary flaming lich.

I'll admit, sort of not loving how i did the last chapter, i was tired out of my face, and my newest story is tickling my brain. Now, since i'm me, and i want to get you all wet in the pants, I'll tell you a bit of information on it. It shall be called "Silent Kingdom" and it will involve Flame Princess and Finn becoming trapped in a dimension that looks exactly like the Candy Kingdom, if it was full of horrible monsters and regrets.

And, if anyone can tell, i am taking inspiration from Silent Hill, the first being the one that has caused me to simply turn off my the game, and refuse to play it until the sun is up and someone else is around.

And yes, this will be a horror tale, and hopefully it will be SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKY!

Now lets wrap up this story so we can move onto big-Oh shit, i forgot. DarkCzar13 will be proofreading it. This means we will have a one day delay for the first chapter, but you'll be getting a chapter a day after that, yes?

Now, let us wrap it up, hm?

Chapter 16: Checkmate

The Lich decided this was the best idea, after all. The power was...intoxicating. He felt himself laughing loudly when he set the strange metal beast on fire, the stupid thing not even dodging it. These flames out powered his magic by miles, and that this would make it very easy to turn the world to ash. Looking towards the boy, he was about to mock the boy, when he heard that ear shattering screech, and looked back towards the mass of flames. They dissipated under the scream, the sheer sound apparently extinguishing them. His armour was now black as night, and the colour behind the eyes red as blood. The Lich laughed, the thing could reach him, anyway, he was safe over the pit of-

Looking down, he watched the thing point it's hand, and a jet of water came rushing from it, turning the protecting lava pool into solid rock. Landing on it, Both Finn and the grey being approached him. 'Might be best to flee and begin razing the earth, let them get caught in the blast...' turning to open a rift, he found a odd empty feeling coming from his chest. Looking down, he saw the massive blade that was Father Knight's arm sticking out of his torso, before ripping it out roughly, taking one of what was once Billy's arm with him. Frowning, The Lich flew backwards, to avoid the next blow, only to find himself ducking the blood red sword that Finn now wielded. He tossed flame at the boy, and watched it bounce off of him like it was nothing, the only affect was leaving a large singed hole in his shirt.

"Ah man, this was my favourite shirt! I only have ten of these!" he cried, before charging at the Lich.

Dodging the blows, he became confused, and continued tossing flames at the boy, only to bounce off like they were nothing at all. "What on earth are you, boy!?" he growled out, refusing to quit the barrage.

Finn mentally thanked Smithy, but watched the ring that he wore turn to ash after yet another barrage. However, it seemed the lich had given up on the ashen flames, resorting to the black magic he was so fond of. Tossing spheres of purple energy at the boy, Finn found his massive companion blocking them, before charging at the Lich with reckless abandon.

Dodging another flurry of blows from the massive beast, he frowned. 'Might be best to claim a new body, perhaps this things one...' gaining enough distance, the lich spoke the string of phrases required, and felt himself leave the body of the once great hero, Billy. He laughed wickedly as he floated towards the beast, prepared to absorb the creatures mind and take it for himself. However, when it swung the blade and cut through his spiritual being, he felt something he had not felt ever before; pain. Howling, he attempted to fly back towards the body, but found the blade swinging at him, and another emotion came to him; fear. He felt relief as he slipped back into the corpse, and rolled to avoid being cleaved in half. He went to summon the energies of the amulet, but found nothing happening. That was when he realized the boy now wore the amulet, and his body became covered with white flames, and the lich wondered exactly how he would escape.

* * *

Looking at himself, he watched the amulet snake flames across his body, creating a shell of fire around his body. The power he could feel sweeping through him was indescribable, and could not find a word to attempt this. Looking over at the Lich, who was still dodging the angry protector's blows, he found he wasn't angry anymore, or upset. He felt sad for the necromantic creature, it would never truly understand at what folly it acted. He felt the flames come to life in his hands, and frowned. That was too simple, too obvious. Instead, he focused on the Lich, and watched the undead monsters corpse burst into white flame, which he briefly attempted to pat out, before apparently discarding the body. Father Knight apparently knew this, and attempted to skewer the spirit, but seemed to not be successful, stomping the ground angrily.

He felt something inside the amulet trying to speak to him, and frowned. He watched the ground coming towards his face, and blacked out.

* * *

Finn was confused, he decided, when he found himself sitting in a very comfy chair, and in front of him, sitting in the same chair, with a cup of tea in one hand and a cookie in the other, was what he immediately knew to be the previous wielder of the Regalia.

Laughing lightly at the boy, he spoke up. "So your the new Hero? Hm, your as pure as need be, at least. And your clever enough to use your power correctly...Glad to see this." he said, and Finn realized that the man was somehow indescribable, as he couldn't actually 'see' any features of the man, but simply knew he was there.

"But..." he attempted to say, and the man laughed.

"I see. You may have a point, boy. This world doesn't need a hero like you, it has plenty already. You don't want to live forever, and watch everyone you know grow old." Sighing, he took a drink noisily from the tea, before continuing. "I Didn't want to either, to tell you the truth. But I survived for 800 years, making sure to leave humanity where it should be. But, you don't need the Regalia. It's power is not something you desire, you wish to win of your own merit."

He went to speak, but just nodded silently. This man was reading his mind, and speaking would only waste time.

"The Regalia is tired, as well. It wishes to flee to another dimension and rest, until it is needed by another great hero. I, frankly, agree. As such, We will leave with it, and disappear from this dimension. Your hero's heart gave us power, and we can now do as we please."

He felt the world fading away, but heard a final line. "Your tale will become greater and greater, me boy. Make us born of Hero blood proud"

* * *

Yawning loudly, he looked about to see that he was being carried down the mountain, Father Knight quietly stomping down the side. He looked down at the boy, and nodded at him. Finn smiled, and leapt off of of him, running down the steep cliff, laughing the entire way down, even as his legs burned and he nearly fell onto his face.

Reaching the bottom, he saw the fight had been decided, the Heroes standing over the corpses of the dead, speaking to each other happily, before turning to the boy and cheering loudly. Out of the group, came Billy, who approached and put a hand on his shoulder. "Good work, Finn. I am glad you are still here to carry the title of Hero." Bending down, he whispered something in his ear, and Finn grinned. "Make sure not to let it become dusty, eh?" he laughed, before returning to the group.

"Lets give him a battlecry, so that he may remember what the title Hero truly means!" cried a buff looking earth elemental, who raised his fist in the air. The other warriors did the same, giving out the cries they screamed when going to war, to battle, or to their graves. As they did, the simply disappeared, nothing remaining of them except the corpses of the undead they left.

Looking around, He spotted Smithy sitting on a rock, apparently thinking. However, as he approached, a door seemed to appear from nowhere, and a women walked through. She was a tad shorter then the smithy, and a few runes marked her arms. She wore a light blue skirt and shirt, and she was glaring seethingly at the man, before smacking him over the head multiple times, crying loudly. "YOU STUPID IDIOT MAN! I told you not to do anything stupid, and look what you did, you nearly damn died! Your lucky i don't make you sleep in a tree for what you did to me!" she screamed, the man smiling slightly, before embracing her in a large hug. She growled at him, but hugged him back and cried into his chest. "You stupid man! Hmf..."

Finn laughed at the show, and watched Smithy pick her up and kiss her, before carrying her bridal style over to them. "Hello, Little Hero. You denied the gift, then?" he spoke simply, his wife trying to kick him in the head and escape his grasp, which he ignored with a smile.

"I did. Shouldn't you put her down?"

"I should, but-" His sentence was interrupted by a large gust knocking him over, the women landing on her feet and laughing. He glared and grumbled. "Thats what i get for marrying a wind mage..."

Standing on his chest, she bent down and stuck her tongue out at his face, giggling. He however, looked down and laughed. "I can see under your skirt, dear."

After stomping on his face, she made a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a growl, and looked around. "So we are stuck here, hm? Well, at least it is pretty here." Watching her husband stand up after rubbing his bruised nose, she took his hand and leaned into him.

Turning towards Finn, he nodded at him and they began trekking home.

* * *

As they went through the cave, Father Knight had left the group, being swarmed by the small children who were trying to hug him to death, judging by the screams of happiness. You see, on the way back, he had found a small pack of dogs, which consisted of nothing but a mother and father and a large horde of puppies. Father knight had approached them slowly, and after his helmet was licked furiously, the small group of dogs had followed them back, before each dog was claimed by a different child, naming them and yelling about how much they loved them. They left them to their hugging, Father Knight attempting to stand up to no avail, and continued walking.

* * *

Epilogue

After some time, The Rune Enchanter had decided to build his home next to Nikolai's, deciding that even if they had tried to murder each other, the fact that they both had children on the way (turns out Smithy had gotten her pregnant shortly before the event, and was now trying his best to not scream when he had been asked to go to the nearest kingdom and pick up various foods in the dead of the night. Where as Lily and Nikolai had gotten quite close, and had found out that birth control doesn't work on immortals, leaving Nikolai to build a crib and other child necessities) and that it would be best for the two couples to stay nearby, as they could entrust their child to the other group if need be.

The enchanted built the home using various forms of magic (read: he made enchanted tools for some builders in exchange for building a nice home) and set up a enchanting business like he had back in Uuu, quickly drawing him into many silly adventures (that's another tale, I'm afraid.) Fnn had been his first customer, buying several of the fire protection rings, saying "just in case"

Marceline made a full recovery, pulling pranks on the poor pink princess as soon as she could walk, and was eventually kicked out by Peppermint Butler, after he had found that Princess Bubblegum had been particularly not pink one day.


End file.
